Tennessee halts man’s execution after being unable to find vein for lethal injection, attorney says

This Tennessee Department of Correction photo shows inmate Tony Carruthers. (Tennessee Department of Correction via AP)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee officials on Thursday called off the lethal injection of Tony Carruthers, who was convicted of kidnapping and murdering three people in 1994, after his executioners tried and failed for over an hour to establish an intravenous line. Gov. Bill Lee announced soon afterward that the state would not try again for at least a year.

In a written statement, the Tennessee Department of Corrections said medical personnel had quickly established a primary IV line but were unable to find a suitable vein for a backup line as required by the state’s execution protocol. Efforts to insert a central line also failed, and officials called off the execution.

Maria DeLiberato, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney representing Carruthers, said she saw him “wincing and groaning” while officials attempted to find a vein, calling it “horrible” to watch. An Associated Press journalist was in attendance to observe the execution, but a state rule contested by news organizations prohibits media witnesses from observing the IV insertion.

DeLiberato was addressing reporters when the governor’s office issued the reprieve. She began crying.

“That’s amazing!” she said. “I’m so grateful!”

Since 2009, six other prisoners in three states -- Alabama, Idaho and Ohio -- have had executions halted because of difficulties establishing an IV, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. In Idaho in 2024, medical team members tried eight times to establish a line to execute Thomas Creech, one of the nation’s longest-serving death row inmates, before calling it off. Idaho Gov. Brad Little subsequently signed a law making firing squad the state’s primary method of execution.

In Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey paused executions for several months after officials called off the lethal injection of Kenneth Eugene Smith in 2022. It was the third time since 2018 Alabama had been unable to conduct executions due to problems with IV lines.

“Tony Carruthers’ case raised serious concerns about mental illness, representation, innocence, and access to DNA testing,” the Death Penalty Information Center said in an emailed statement. “The state’s failed attempt today to execute him presents an additional issue surrounding the qualifications of the people tasked with executing prisoners.”

Witnesses had limited access to the execution attempt

Under Tennessee’s execution policies, blinds between the witness room and the execution chamber are kept closed until the IV insertion team has left. On Thursday, media witnesses sat in a dark room for over an hour, but the blinds were never raised.

Witnesses did hear what sounded like groans through a crack beneath a door connecting the two rooms.

DeLiberato, who was in the execution chamber, said that after establishing an IV line in Carruthers’ right arm, medical personnel tried his other arm, his left hand and his left foot before trying to establish a central line.

Carruthers groaned as a doctor started pushing a needle in, she said. She saw two or three puncture wounds: “There was a lot of blood.”

Unable to establish a central line, the medical team accessed a vein in his right shoulder before the warden received a phone call and announced the execution was off, she said.

The Associated Press is part of a group of media organizations fighting for witnesses to be allowed to see more of the execution process, including the IV insertion.

Carruthers was convicted of killing 3 in Memphis

Carruthers, 57, was found guilty of the 1994 kidnappings and murders of Marcellos Anderson; his mother, Delois Anderson; and Frederick Tucker. Authorities said Marcellos Anderson was a drug dealer and that Carruthers was trying to take over the illegal trade in their Memphis neighborhood.

He was forced to represent himself at trial after repeatedly complaining about court-appointed attorneys and threatening to harm several of them.

There was no physical evidence tying Carruthers to the killings, and he was convicted primarily on the basis of testimony from people who claimed to have heard him confess to or discuss the crimes. The ACLU said it would continue to push for DNA testing on evidence in the case, saying it should have been done long ago.

Carruthers’ attorneys have also argued that he has mental health issues that render him incompetent to be executed.

Executions surged last year

The number of executions in the U.S. surged from 25 in 2024 to 47 last year, driven by a sharp increase in Florida. That state carried out 19 executions in 2025, up from one the previous year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Four states have carried out 14 executions so far this year, including one Thursday evening in Florida, and 10 more are scheduled.

Tennessee, which had its last execution in December, began a new round last year after a three-year pause following the discovery that the state was not properly testing lethal injection drugs for purity and potency.

An independent review later found that none of the drugs prepared for the seven inmates executed in Tennessee since 2018 had been fully tested. The state attorney general’s office also conceded in court that two of the people most responsible for overseeing Tennessee’s lethal injection drugs " incorrectly testified " under oath that officials were testing the chemicals as required.

Travis Loller, The Associated Press

Associated Press reporters Gene Johnson in Seattle and Sudhin Thanawala in Atlanta contributed.