Byron Black
Byron Black, a 69-year-old man who used a wheelchair, was executed by lethal injection by Tennessee at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on August 5, 2025. His attorney Kelley Henry, who said she had worked with him for 25 years, described him as a gentle, kind and fragile man with intellectual disability, and said he had dementia, kidney failure and congestive heart failure. In his last days he took part in a church service in his cell and asked that his gratitude be passed on to his family, supporters and prison staff who had shown him kindness. His lawyers had warned that the implanted defibrillator in his chest could deliver painful shocks and prolong the execution, and prison officials left the device active after Tennessee's highest court declined to intervene. Media witnesses reported that after the drugs took effect he lifted his head, groaned and said it was hurting badly, and his attorney said he had been tortured; it is not yet clear what caused the pain, and his attorneys planned to review the device data at autopsy.
Cause of death, as reported: Executed by the state. His lawyers argued that a heart defibrillator left active during the execution could shock him and prolong a painful death, and his attorney said he had an intellectual disability and had been tortured.
Reported by: Tennessee Department of Correction (the agency that held him); prison officials; Kelley Henry, his attorney (family or their lawyers); Vocal.media roundup of 2025 U.S. executions (reporters).