NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee halted the execution of death row inmate Tony Carruthers on Thursday after the person responsible for administering the lethal injection was unable to find a vein, stalling the execution indefinitely, according to a witness to the procedure.
Carruthers had been scheduled to die Thursday morning at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.
The execution was initially delayed while attorneys awaited a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court on an emergency stay request filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. The court denied the request, allowing the execution process to move forward before complications arose.
According to the Tennessee Department of Correction, the execution team was able to establish a primary intravenous line but could not secure a required backup line. Officials said the team later attempted to place a central line under the state’s execution protocol, but those efforts were unsuccessful, leading the state to stop the procedure.
Witnesses said staff spent about 90 minutes attempting to locate a suitable vein and inserted needles multiple times in different areas of Carruthers’ body before the execution was called off.
Gov. Bill Lee later granted Carruthers a one-year temporary reprieve. The state has not announced a new execution date.
Carruthers was convicted in the 1994 killings of Marcellos Anderson, Delois Anderson and Frederick Tucker in Memphis. Prosecutors said the victims’ bodies were later discovered buried at a Memphis cemetery.
Opponents of the death penalty condemned the failed execution attempt, calling it disturbing and renewing criticism of Tennessee’s lethal injection procedures.
