A judge is ordering state officials to turn off a death-row inmate’s heart-regulating implant to avert the risk that it might try to shock him during his execution by lethal injection scheduled for Aug. 5.
Nashville Chancellor Russell Perkins issued the order Friday. Byron Black is slated to die by a single dose lethal injection of pen-to-barbital.
Black’s attorneys have said that the implantable
cardio-verter- de-fib-rill-ator could shock him in an attempt to restore his heart’s normal rhythm, causing extreme pain and suffering.
Attorneys for the state deemed it highly unlikely.
Black was convicted in the 1988 shooting deaths of girlfriend 29 year old Angela Clay and her two daughters, Latoya, 9, and Lakeisha, 6.
Prosecutors said Black was in a jealous rage when he shot the three at their home.
