Tennessee Governor Bill Lee gave Tony Carruthers a one-year reprieve after his failed attempt.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has officially approved a temporary reprieve. Tony von Carruthers His execution, scheduled for Thursday morning in Nashville, was delayed a year because medical staff were unable to establish a backup IV line for his execution.
“I am granting Tony von Carruthers a year of temporary probation,” Governor Lee said in a statement.
Medical staff were able to establish a primary intravenous line but were unable to “immediately establish a backup line in accordance with the lethal injection execution protocol,” a news release said. The release also stated that they continued to follow protocol but could not find “another suitable vein” and attempted to insert a central line without success.
The execution has since been called off, officials said.
American Civil Liberties Union A statement was issued Thursday afternoon. About trying to execute.
“This morning, the state of Tennessee conducted a botched and painful execution of Tony Carruthers, even as the state continues to refuse to conduct forensic tests to prove he was wrongfully convicted,” the statement read. It also claimed that the execution took nearly 90 minutes to stop and that Carruthers “groaned in pain” as medical teams attempted to set up an intravenous line.
Maria DeLiberato, senior counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union’s Death Penalty Project, issued the following statement:
“Allowing the execution of Tony Carruthers without ordering a DNA test was already a grave injustice. Now, after the botched execution attempt on Mr. Carruthers, that injustice has become downright barbaric.
We are extremely relieved that Governor Lee has issued a reprieve. We will work hard to ensure that the state no longer seeks to subject Mr. Carruthers and his family to this torture. More than 130,000 people have signed the petition to join our fight, including ex-offenders who faced wrongful convictions.
We will also continue to urge the governor to use this moment to allow long overdue forensic testing. The State of Tennessee cannot continue to torture a man while refusing to answer serious questions about his innocence. “
Carruthers convicted of killing 3 people in Memphis
Carruthers, 57, was convicted of the 1994 kidnappings and murders of Marcellos Anderson; his mother, Deloise Anderson; and Frederick Tucker. He was forced to take the stand after repeatedly complaining about his court-appointed attorneys and threatening to harm several of them.
There was no physical evidence linking Carruthers to the killings, and his conviction was based largely on the testimony of people who claimed to have heard him admit or discuss the crimes.
They included a man who was later revealed to be a police informant, who told the media he was paid to testify. Co-defendant James Montgomery was originally sentenced to death along with Carruthers, but was later re-indicted and released from prison in 2015, according to court documents.
Authorities said Marcelos Anderson was a drug dealer and Carruthers was trying to take over the illegal drug trade around Memphis. Carruthers’ attorneys said their client’s “paranoia and delusions” prevented him from cooperating with his court-appointed attorney, but the judge found the behavior was intentional.
The Tennessee Supreme Court said on appeal that Carruthers’ behavior in front of the jury was aggressive and self-destructive, but that the situation he found himself in was of his own making.
Carruthers’ attorneys tried to prove he was incompetent to be executed. They claimed in court documents that Carruthers believed the government was bluffing his execution to force him into accepting a plea deal that existed only in his mind. Carruthers believed this would allow the government to avoid paying him millions of dollars he believed was owed him. He was convinced his lawyers were part of a conspiracy against him and refused to even talk to them, according to court documents.
The number of executions surged last year
quantity execution The number in the United States surged from 25 in 2024 to 47 last year, driven by a sharp increase in Florida. The state carried out 19 executions in 2025, one more than the previous year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. So far this year, 13 people have been executed in four states, and 11 more are scheduled to be executed, including 1 Thursday night in Florida.
It is not uncommon for multiple executions to occur within a short period of time. Last March, four people were executed in three days in Oklahoma, Florida, Louisiana and Arizona. In October, five more people were executed in one week in Arizona, Mississippi, Missouri, Florida and Indiana, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Tennessee begins A new round of executions after last year three years pause after it was discovered that the state did not properly test the purity and potency of lethal injection drugs.
one independent review It later emerged that drugs prepared for seven inmates executed in Tennessee since 2018 had not been adequately tested. The state attorney general’s office also admitted in court that two people responsible for overseeing Tennessee’s lethal injection drugs ” Testify wrongly “Sworn officials are testing these chemicals as required.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. all rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
