NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – A Tennessee death row inmate has at least one more year to live after the state “botched” his execution Thursday morning.
Tony Carruthers was scheduled to die by lethal injection on Thursday morning at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tennessee.
The execution was originally slated for 10 a.m., but it was delayed as legal teams waited for the U.S. Supreme Court to make a decision on an emergency stay request from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The high court rejected the request, and the execution was allowed to proceed before complications with the injection occurred.
This undated photo released by the Tennessee Department of Correction shows Tony Carruthers. (Tennessee Department of Correction via AP)(AP)What went wrong?
The Tennessee Department of Corrections reported that medics were able to establish a “primary vein,” but were unsuccessful in finding a required “backup line.”
“The team continued to follow the protocol, but could not find another suitable vein,” a press release said. “The team attempted to insert a central line pursuant to the protocol, but the procedure was unsuccessful. The execution was then called off.”
Witnesses said the staff attempted to locate the proper vein for 1.5 hours, sticking him multiple times in different parts of his body, before the execution was aborted.
Carruthers was ultimately returned to a cell at the prison.
When will he be executed?
Gov. Bill Lee announced at about 1 p.m. that he is granting Carruthers a “temporary reprieve from execution for one year.”
More specific details on when he will be executed have yet to be released.
Tony Carruthers was killed by lethal injection on Thursday, May 21, 2026.(WSMV)Case background
Carruthers was found guilty of taking part in the kidnapping and killing of Marcellos Anderson, Delois Anderson and Frederick Tucker in Memphis in February 1994.
Their bodies were found buried underneath a grave at a cemetery in Memphis on March 3, 1994. Both Marcellos Anderson and Tucker died of gunshot wounds, while Delois Anderson had been beaten and suffocated. In court filings, the Medical Examiner asserted that they had been buried alive, but later walked that statement back.
Death penalty opponents call execution ‘botched,’ ‘horrifying’
Death penalty opponents reacted with horror to the state’s failed execution Thursday.
“Today’s botched execution attempt of Tony Carruthers is 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.”
The U.S. Campaign to End the Death Penalty also released a statement saying the problems with Carruthers’ execution supported their calls to repeal the death penalty.
“Tennessee has effectively made the case against the death penalty,” said Executive Director Laura Porter. “They forced Tony Carruthers to represent himself at his own capital trial, failed to test DNA and fingerprint evidence and now they have failed to execute him. It is time to end the death penalty.”
Push to cancel execution over lack of physical evidence
Carruthers represented himself during his murder trial after he expressed an overall distrust in the legal system, which he felt was out to get him. He reportedly believed his attorneys were part of this system to put him away, according to court documents.
Multiple organizations, lawmakers and prominent figures have called attention to the details of Carruthers’ case.
His attorneys have pleaded with Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to stay the execution and reopen the case. They claim that no physical evidence has ever linked Carruthers to the murders. The now discredited testimonies of the two other men involved, James and Jonathan Montgomery, and a Medical Examiner were enough for a jury to find him guilty.
James Montgomery was also found guilty of the murders and sentenced to death, but he was offered a plea deal in 2015 and released from prison. John Montgomery was indicted in the killings but died before his case went to trial.
Carruthers’ legal team, the ACLU and even Kim Kardashian called for the state to review the physical evidence of the case and test his DNA against what was found at the crime scenes.
Gov. Bill Lee asserted on Tuesday, May 19, that he was not intervening with the execution.
“After deliberate consideration of Tony Von Carruthers’ request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene.”
That’s when the ACLU and attorneys filed two last-minute attempts to halt the execution. One plea was sent to the state to review the lethal drug cocktail used during the execution, and the other was sent to the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and stop Tennessee from killing a “potentially innocent man.”
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), a staunch opponent of the death penalty, spoke of Carruthers’ case on the Senate floor on Wednesday.
“By midnight tomorrow (Thursday), Mr. Carruthers will depart this earth for a crime he may not have committed,” Durbin said.
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