Tony Carruthers declined final meal before his failed execution

Tony Carruthers declined to be served a final meal the evening of May 20, hours before he was slated to be executed by the State of Tennessee, an official with the Tennessee Department of Corrections said on May 21.

Carruthers was convicted in 1996 of three counts of first-degree murder in which he kidnapped, killed and buried three people beneath another person's grave in a Memphis cemetery.

Carruthers' execution was canceled on May 21, after over an hour of trying to set a primary and secondary IV line. A primary IV was set, but a viable secondary line could not be set. After attempting multiple different access points, a man could be heard by media witnesses telling Carruthers they were going to take him back to his cell.

Last-minute legal appeals to halt Carruthers' execution were unsuccessful. He is being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, and their latest efforts have focused on pausing his execution date so DNA and fingerprint evidence can be tested.

Multiple courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have denied those requests.

The ACLU has also petitioned Gov. Bill Lee for clemency, which was also denied. On May 19, Lee said he was not going to intervene to stop Carruthers' execution.

Lee granted Carruthers a one-year reprieve from execution following the May 21 failure.

Lucas Finton covers crime, policing, jails, the courts and criminal justice policy for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached by phone or email: (901)208-3922 and [email protected], and followed on X @LucasFinton.