'Torturous': Botched Tennessee execution sparks US death row debate

For over an hour, Tony Carruthers lay strapped to an execution gurney in Tennessee's death chamber as his executioners struggled to find a vein. They tried his arms, shoulders, feet, chest, and the jugular vein in his neck, a witness in the room told USA TODAY.

The process left Carruthers bleeding and moaning on May 21, according to the witness, Maria DeLiberato, senior counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union's Capital Punishment Project. The state eventually called off the execution, and in a rare move, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee granted Carruthers a one-year reprieve.

But Tennessee is planning on at least three more executions this year, including an inmate who would be the first woman put to death in the state in more than 200 years. Attorneys for the inmates say that Carruthers' failed execution raises concerns about what will happen to their clients when it comes time for their lethal injections and are calling for a moratorium on the death penalty in the state.

“Last week’s botched execution raises grave concerns about the State’s ability to prevent another tortuous execution," attorney Stephen Ferrell told USA TODAY in a statement this week.

Ferrell represents Christa Pike, who is set to be put to death by lethal injection in Tennessee on Sept. 30 for luring 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer to the woods in Knoxville on Jan. 12, 1995, and killing her over a prolonged period − a murder that made national headlines for its brutality.

Attorneys for another Tennessee inmate set for execution in December − Gary Wayne Sutton − also say they have "profound concerns."

"What occurred was deeply troubling and underscores many of the concerns defense counsel, medical experts, and advocates have raised for years regarding Tennessee’s execution protocol and the errors that are always associated with it," Sutton's attorneys, Cindy Anderson and Johnna Henry, told USA TODAY in a statement.

Here's what else you need to know about Carruthers' failed execution and how it could impact Tennessee's upcoming executions.

What happened during Tony Carruthers' failed execution?

While death row inmates aren't guaranteed a pain-free death, the U.S. Constitution mandates that their executions be free of "cruel and unusual punishment." Tennessee violated that mandate during the prolonged process to find two veins in Tony Carruthers, his attorneys argue.

Carruthers is on death row after he was convicted of carrying out three murders on Feb. 24, 1994, as part of a plan to take over the drug trade in his Memphis neighborhood. Two of the victims were shot and one, an innocent housewife, was buried alive.

The case, which became infamous in Memphis, gained national attention leading up to the execution as Carruthers fought for testing on forensic evidence and fingerprints that his attorneys argue could exonerate him. Kim Kardashian called on Lee to hold off on the execution for the testing, and the American Civil Liberties Union joined in the fight.

Lee allowed the execution to move forward on May 21. At first, the execution appeared to be typical, with medical personnel finding one of Carruthers' veins in a matter of minutes. It was finding the second vein that proved impossible for them.

"The emotional distress was palpable immediately when they couldn’t find a vein," DeLiberato said. "He was sweating, he was pale ... and then it became unimaginable physical distress."

She said Carruthers experienced the most pain when the doctor tried to insert a central line into his chest five minutes after giving the inmate lidocaine for the pain.

"He took the scalpel and started to press in Tony's chest and he asked if Tony could feel it and he said, 'It hurts, it hurts,'" DiLiberato said. "He did it anyway and that’s when Tony began making guttural sounds ... Tony was in agony and there was a lot of blood."

After that didn't work, she said they tried to find a vein in one of Carruthers' shoulders and that shortly after that, the warden got a call and then announced that the execution was off. The governor's office then announced that Carruthers would get a one-year reprieve.

Defense attorneys call for moratorium on Tennessee executions

Defense attorneys in Tennessee are calling on the state to stop executing inmates until an ongoing lawsuit over its lethal injection protocol is resolved. Attorneys for nine death row inmates filed the lawsuit in March 2025, a couple months after Tennessee announced its new protocol, which calls for the use of one drug: pentobarbital.

The new protocol came after Gov. Lee halted all executions in the state in 2022 when he granted a temporary reprieve to death row inmate Oscar Franklin Smith due to a "technical oversight" in the lethal injection process. At the time Lee said the pause in executions would allow time for an independent review of the state's protocol.

“I review each death penalty case and believe it is an appropriate punishment for heinous crimes,” Lee said in a statement at the time. “However, the death penalty is an extremely serious matter, and I expect the Tennessee Department of Correction to leave no question that procedures are correctly followed.”

The state resumed the death penalty three years later with Smith's execution in May 2025. The state also executed Harold Nichols and Byron Lewis Black last year.

Attorneys for death row inmates argue that pentobarbital can prolong executions to last as long as 20 minutes during which the inmate could remain aware and experience a type of "waterboarding," − an "an unambiguous form of outright torture," according to the lawsuit.

The attorneys who filed the lawsuit held a news conference this week saying that their predictions over the use of pentobarbital came true with Carruthers' failed execution and shows that Tennessee is using undertrained personnel to carry out the death penalty.

The corrections department "chose to ignore the warnings, and Mr. Carruthers suffered as a result," said Amy Harwell, a federal public defender for the Middle District of Tennessee.

"They subjected him to over an hour and a half of torture as incompetent medical personnel attempted to place an IV line," Harwell said. "They poked and poked and poked him more than a dozen times."

DiLiberato said that Carruthers remains emotionally distressed and in pain, and that she's fighting to have an independent doctor evaluate him.

"You can imagine what going through something lie that does to a person. He's going to need a lot of time to heal," DiLiberato said. "It would be unconscionable for a state to continue with executions in light of how incompetently and cruelly they botched Tony's execution attempt. If there ever was a sign for a state to press the pause button, what happened last Thursday was it."

What does the state say about upcoming executions?

The general office of Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and spokeswoman Elizabeth Johnson have not responded to USA TODAY's repeated requests for comment, including questions about whether the state will move forward with the other executions this year and if so, whether any changes will be made to avoid another failed execution.

The Tennessee Department of Correction, which carries out executions in the state, also didn't respond to those questions. The state's Attorney General's Office referred all comment to the governor's office and corrections department.

For now, the executions remain scheduled. They are: Anthony Hines on Aug. 13 for the 1985 murder of 54-year-old Katherine Jean Jenkins; Christa Pike on Sept. 30 for the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer; and Gary Wayne Sutton on Dec. 3 for the 1992 murder of Tommy Griffin.

Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter who covers the death penalty, cold cases and breaking news for USA TODAY. Follow her on X at @amandaleeusat