Inmate Loses a Battle in Complicated Execution Fight

As of now, a 68-year-old death row inmate is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday, but the case of Byron Black is unusually complicated one and could take more twists and turns before then. The main issue involving Black, who murdered his girlfriend and her two young daughters in 1988, centers around his heart defibrillator, reports the Tennessean. The inmate's lawyers want it removed before he receives a lethal injection because they say it might complicate the procedure and result in a prolonged and painful death. Specifically, they say the device might keep shocking Black as his heart fails in an attempt to revive him. The state disagrees.

• On Thursday, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that the state did not have to deactivate the device, reports the AP. That may not be the last word, however, because Black's attorney's also have asked the US Supreme Court to weigh in.

• A lower court had initially ruled that the state must bring Black to a local hospital for the procedure, but doctors there said they would refuse to take part in a procedure related to an execution. The judge noted a separate complication: If the device were deactivated and Black then received a last-minute reprieve from, say, the governor, he could die anyway because the device wasn't operating.
• Black also suffers from dementia and brain damage, per the Tennessean, which notes that, "under current laws, he would not be eligible to be sentenced to the death penalty today."
• Black's lawyers say he has an intellectual disability that should bar his execution under the 8th Amendment ban against cruel and unusual punishment, per WTVF. The national Supreme Court may take that into consideration.
• In 1988, Black shot his 29-year-old girlfriend, Angela Clay, 29, along with her two daughters, Latoya Clay, 9, and Lakeisha Clay, 6, in what prosecutors called a jealous rage. He was out on work-release at the time for shooting his girlfriend's estranged husband.