Overview
- The state is scheduled to execute Tony Carruthers on Thursday after courts denied last-minute requests from his lawyers for DNA and fingerprint testing and to rule him mentally incompetent.
- Carruthers’ attorneys say they fear Tennessee may use expired lethal-injection drugs and note the corrections department declined to confirm the drugs’ expiration status to reporters.
- An assistant attorney general told defense counsel the department will follow its lethal-injection protocol, which the state says includes inventory checks to monitor expiration dates.
- Defense lawyers have filed emergency motions claiming prison staff could not obtain IV access for the execution and that the man faces a risk of being subjected to an untested or ineffective drug regimen.
- The case comes after an independent review found Tennessee did not fully test drugs used in seven executions since 2018 and after the state invoked supplier-shield rules that limit disclosure about drug sources and details.