Tennessee can execute a death row inmate on Aug. 5 without having to first deactivate his heart device, the state Supreme Court has ruled.
Byron Black, 69, is set to be executed for the 1988 South Nashville murders of his ex-girlfriend Angela Clay and her two young daughters.
His lawyers and the state have been battling over the issue of his implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) for congestive heart failure and whether it would cause a prolonged and painful death by shocking him repeatedly during the lethal injection process.
A Davidson County Chancery Court judge in July ordered the state to disconnect the device at Nashville General Hospital on the morning of his execution. But Nashville General in an announcement later said it never agreed to the procedure.
In a July 31 ruling, the state Supreme Court said disconnecting the device on the morning of the execution would interfere with the process and place a precondition on the Tennessee Department of Correction.
Moreover, state justices ruled that the trial court does not have authority to "stay, modify, or condition" the previous order for execution.
Black's execution is set to move forward in days unless Gov. Bill Lee or the U.S. Supreme Court issues a stay.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Supreme Court OKs execution without deactivating heart device
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