TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Oct 28, 2025

An electrocardiogram monitoring Tennessee inmate Byron Black’s heart showed “sustained cardiac activity” for nearly two minutes after he was pronounced dead from a lethal injection, the Associated Press reports. The comments by his attorney, federal Public Defender Kelley Henry, came in a filing requesting that attorneys for Black and other death row inmates be allowed to depose key people who carry out executions as part of a lawsuit challenging the state’s lethal injection protocol. The state opposes making those individuals available for depositions, arguing it will risk the identities of the execution team. Instead, the state proposed that officials with the Tennessee Department of Correction testify.