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Tennessee Halts Execution After Failed IV Attempts, Governor Grants One‑Year Reprieve

The reprieve pauses any new death‑penalty attempt and raises questions about the case’s untested evidence, claims of mental incompetence, and the state’s lethal‑injection protocol

A Tennessee death row inmate was spared execution Thursday morning after medical staff failed to find a vein to deliver a lethal injection, state officials said.
Maria DeLiberato, right, attorney for death row inmate Tony Von Carruthers, speaks to reporters after the execution of Carruthers was called off because a suitable vein could not found as required by lethal injection execution protocol Thursday, May 21, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
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Tennessee death row inmate's execution stopped after failed attempts to insert IV, next attempt after one year | Today News

Overview

  • State medical staff spent more than an hour trying to place the required backup intravenous line and then attempted a central line before officials called off the execution on Thursday, May 21.
  • Governor Bill Lee issued a temporary reprieve that prevents Tennessee from reattempting Carruthers’s execution for at least one year.
  • Carruthers’s lawyers and witnesses said he was in visible pain and bled during repeated needle attempts, and the defense filed emergency motions seeking DNA and fingerprint testing and rulings on his mental competency.
  • Carruthers was convicted for a 1994 triple homicide in Memphis in a trial that produced no physical evidence tying him to the crime and relied mainly on witness testimony, including from a paid police informant.
  • The botched attempt adds to scrutiny of Tennessee’s capital‑punishment system after a 2022 pause for faulty drug testing and could prompt new legal challenges, demands for forensic testing, and reviews of medical and execution protocols.