The US state of Tennessee postponed the execution of Tony Carruthers, 57, after staff failed to find a vein for lethal injection. Convicted of a 1994 triple murder and kidnapping, Carruthers was scheduled to die on Thursday (May 21). The state’s Department of Corrections stated that while medical personnel successfully established the primary IV line, they could not find a suitable second vein to establish a backup line, which is required under the lethal injection execution protocol.
“The team attempted to insert a central line pursuant to the protocol, but the procedure was unsuccessful,” read the statement. “The execution was then called off.”
After the failed attempt, the attorneys representing Carruthers asked in emergency filings for the execution to be delayed. Governor Bill Lee, a Republican, responded and issued a reprieve, delaying any execution of Carruther for a year, according to a report in The New York Times.
Maria DeLiberato, an attorney for Carruthers, started crying while addressing the reporters when the reprieve was announced. “That’s amazing!” she said. “I am so grateful.”
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Stacy Rector, the executive director of Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (TADP) said the botched attempt at execution was horrifying but not surprising.
“TADP has sounded the alarm for years about the serious problems with lethal injection and urged our state toward greater transparency so these problems can be addressed,” Rector said.
Carruthers, 57, was sentenced to death following his conviction for the 1994 kidnappings and murders of Marcellos Anderson, his mother Delois Anderson, and Frederick Tucker.
Carruthers’ sentencing has drawn attention, with his attorneys arguing that he was wrongfully convicted in connection with the murders. Last week, Kim Kardashian took up Carruthers’ cause, urging her fans in a social media post to call the governor’s office and demand the DNA evidence be tested “before it’s too late”.
