Tennessee death row inmate seeks US Supreme Court review

A Tennessee man scheduled to be executed Thursday night for a 1986 murder is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review his claim that he could suffer cruel and unusual punishment because of an “under-skilled” physician in charge of administering lethal drugs.

Attorneys for Darrell Hines filed a petition with the nation’s high court Sunday night asking it to postpone his execution and scrutinize the Tennessee Supreme Court’s decision to deny a request for a special master to determine whether his Eighth Amendment rights could be violated.

Hines contends he could experience severe pain and suffering based on evidence that Dr. Mark Fowler, the physician involved in the botched execution of Tony Carruthers in May, could be in charge of his execution as well. The state has refused to say who will conduct the execution.

Gov. Bill Lee called off Carruthers’ execution and postponed it for a year when the death penalty team overseen by Fowler failed to place a central line to administer lethal drugs as part of the state’s execution protocol. Fowler admitted in court that he had not put in a central line in more than 13 years, according to Carruthers’ attorneys.

Tennessee senators who requested an independent investigation of Carruthers’ failed execution told the Lookout last week they received information that the execution team couldn’t place the IV because Carruthers was dehydrated. That explanation to Senate leaders led them to drop their request for an investigation.

Carruthers’ attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union said he suffered a form of “torture” as the execution team tried for an hour to place the IV, causing him to bleed and suffer unnecessarily. 

Hines’ attorneys say he is likely to suffer the same type of pain because of medical conditions stemming from two strokes that left him partially paralyzed.