Public defenders ask governor to delay all executions amid litigation

In the wake of a botched execution, Tennessee public defenders are urging Gov. Bill Lee to extend a reprieve to all death row inmates until litigation over the state’s lethal drug protocol is complete.

Lee issued a one-year delay for the execution of death row inmate Tony Carruthers last week after the Department of Correction failed to carry out his execution properly. Medical personnel tapped a primary vein to administer lethal drugs but couldn’t find a backup vein as required by execution protocol, causing him to bleed from puncture wounds and suffer through “torture,” according to his attorney, Maria DeLiberato, who witnessed the failed execution.

DeLiberato, an ACLU attorney, called Carruthers’ situation “beyond barbaric” as she described in a Monday press conference how medical personnel tried multiple times over the course of an hour but failed to find a second vein to administer the lethal drugs. They punctured his chest twice and caused him to bleed, then considered a jugular vein before the warden called off the execution, she said. 

When she recognized problems were taking place, DeLiberato said she was unable to find a telephone and had to be taken to another place inside the prison – twice – to make a call.

Department of Correction staff were “oblivious to causing agony,” DeLiberato said.

Tennessee governor gives reprieve to inmate after botched execution 

Amy Harwell, first assistant federal public defender in U.S. District Court, said the problems with Carruthers’ execution attempt were “foreseen” in the lawsuit filed against the state in 2025 over new protocol for lethal drug injections but the state chose to “ignore the warnings,” causing Carruthers to suffer.

“Clearly there are issues regarding competency and training of corrections staff for executions. It is unconscionable to continue to schedule executions until the courts and the public have a full understanding of what changes need to be made,” Harwell said in a statement. “We ask the governor once again to pause executions to ensure that the state is following its own rules and to implement appropriate oversight.”

Carruthers has spent more than 30 years on death row after being convicted of first-degree murder in a 1994 triple kidnapping and murder in Memphis. He has maintained his innocence for three decades, and his attorney said she continues to seek DNA testing to overturn the conviction.

Lee ordered an investigation four years ago into the state’s former lethal injection protocol and issued a stay of execution for Oscar Smith an hour before he was to be put to death. 

The department adopted new guidelines in 2025, but public defenders say it lacks provisions for training, qualifications and oversight of personnel responsible for administration of lethal injections drugs. The lawsuit on the state’s protocol is pending in Davidson County Chancery Court.

Kit Thomas, an assistant federal public defender, said the state “dismissed” claims raised about the execution protocol as “speculative.” TDOC’s main change was to remove “clear and specific” procedures and protections in favor of vague rules and “weaker safeguards,” she said.

The governor’s office and Department of Correction did not respond immediately Tuesday to questions.