Tennessee officials called off the lethal injection of Tony Carruthers, who was convicted of kidnapping and murdering three people in 1994, after his executioners tried and failed for over an hour to establish an intravenous line.
Governor Bill Lee announced soon afterwards that the state would not try again for at least a year.
In a written statement, the Tennessee Department of Corrections said medical personnel had quickly established a primary IV line but were unable to find a suitable vein for a backup line as required by the state´s execution protocol.
Efforts to insert a central line also failed, and officials called off the execution.
Maria DeLiberato, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney representing Carruthers, said she saw him 'wincing and groaning' while officials attempted to find a vein, calling it 'horrible' to watch.
DeLiberato was addressing reporters when the governor's office issued the reprieve. She began crying.
'That's amazing!' she said. 'I´m so grateful!'
Since 2009, six other prisoners in three states - Alabama, Idaho and Ohio - have had executions halted because of difficulties establishing an IV, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Tennessee officials called off the execution of Tony Carruthers after medical personnel failed for more than an hour to establish the IV access required for lethal injection
Tennessee began a new round of executions in May after a three-year pause that resulted from the state not properly testing lethal injection drugs for purity and potency
In Idaho in 2024, medical team members tried eight times to establish a line to execute Thomas Creech, one of the nation's longest-serving death row inmates, before calling it off.
Idaho Governor Brad Little subsequently signed a law making firing squad the state´s primary method of execution.
In Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey paused executions for several months after officials called off the lethal injection of Kenneth Eugene Smith in 2022.
It was the third time since 2018 Alabama had been unable to conduct executions due to problems with IV lines.
'Tony Carruthers´ case raised serious concerns about mental illness, representation, innocence, and access to DNA testing,' the Death Penalty Information Center said in an emailed statement.
'The state's failed attempt today to execute him presents an additional issue surrounding the qualifications of the people tasked with executing prisoners.'
Under Tennessee´s execution policies, blinds between the witness room and the execution chamber are kept closed until the IV insertion team has left.
On Thursday, media witnesses sat in a dark room for over an hour, but the blinds were never raised.
Carruthers, 57, was convicted in the 1994 kidnappings and murders of Marcellos Anderson, 21, Delois Anderson, 43, and Frederick Tucker, 17, in Memphis
Tennessee officials called off the execution of Tony Carruthers after medical personnel failed for more than an hour to establish the IV access required for lethal injection
Defense attorneys had argued for years that Carruthers suffers from serious mental health issues that should make him ineligible for execution. He is pictured in a 2007 interview
Maria DeLiberato, 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
DeLiberato, right, is seen speaking to reporters after the execution of Carruthers was called off
Witnesses did hear what sounded like groans through a crack beneath a door connecting the two rooms.
DeLiberato, who was in the execution chamber, said that after establishing an IV line in Carruthers´ right arm, medical personnel tried his other arm, his left hand and his left foot before trying to establish a central line.
Carruthers groaned as a doctor started pushing a needle in, she said. She saw two or three puncture wounds: 'There was a lot of blood.'
Unable to establish a central line, the medical team accessed a vein in his right shoulder before the warden received a phone call and announced the execution was off, she said.
Carruthers, 57, was found guilty of the 1994 kidnappings and murders of Marcellos Anderson; his mother, Delois Anderson; and Frederick Tucker.
Authorities said Marcellos Anderson was a drug dealer and that Carruthers was trying to take over the illegal trade in their Memphis neighborhood.
He was forced to represent himself at trial after repeatedly complaining about court-appointed attorneys and threatening to harm several of them.
There was no physical evidence tying Carruthers to the killings, and he was convicted primarily on the basis of testimony from people who claimed to have heard him confess to or discuss the crimes.
The ACLU said it would continue to push for DNA testing on evidence in the case, saying it should have been done long ago.
Carruthers' attorneys have also argued that he has mental health issues that render him incompetent to be executed.
Tony Carruthers was sentenced to death for kidnapping Marcellos Anderson, his mother, Delois Anderson, and Frederick Tucker in 1994. The two male victims were shot, and all three were then buried alive
Carruthers represented himself during parts of his trial after repeatedly clashing with court-appointed attorneys and threatening several of them
Bethany Mann, right, and Pat Halper, left, both of whom oppose the death penalty, greet one another outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the scheduled execution
Reverend Rick Laude enters the area reserved for those in support of the death penalty outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution on Thursday
The number of executions in the U.S. surged from 25 in 2024 to 47 last year, driven by a sharp increase in Florida.
That state carried out 19 executions in 2025, up from one the previous year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Four states have carried out 14 executions so far this year, including one Thursday evening in Florida, and 10 more are scheduled.
Tennessee, which had its last execution in December, began a new round last year after a three-year pause following the discovery that the state was not properly testing lethal injection drugs for purity and potency.
An independent review later found that none of the drugs prepared for the seven inmates executed in Tennessee since 2018 had been fully tested.
The state attorney general's office also conceded in court that two of the people most responsible for overseeing Tennessee's lethal injection drugs 'incorrectly testified' under oath that officials were testing the chemicals as required.