Black, 69, who was convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend Angela Clay and her two daughters, was killed by lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, near Nashville, Tennessee. He was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m. CT. He had no final words.
All of the reporters who were allowed to witness the execution said they could see and hear Black in distress and at some point complaining about pain.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to halt the execution following a petition by federal defenders last week arguing that executing Black, whose IQ scores reflect "subaverage intellectual functioning," would violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
"What happened here was the result of pure, unbridled bloodlust and cowardice. It was the brutal and unchecked power, abuse of government power. It was the result of a failed criminal legal system that countenanced and even rewarded attorneys who told half-truths and untruths," Kelley J. Henry, a federal defender representing Black, said at a press conference. "Today, the State of Tennessee killed a gentle, kind, fragile, intellectually disabled man in violation of the laws of our country simply because they could. No one in a position of power, certainly not the courts, was willing to stop them."
Journalists who witnessed the execution reported seeing Black lift his head several times as a single dose of pentobarbital, a potent barbiturate, made its way into his body through intravenous lines in his arms.
"I can't do this," Black said, according to the witnesses. "This hurts so bad."
"I'm so sorry," a spiritual adviser with him in the execution chamber told him.
Black was sentenced to death for the 1988 murder of Clay and her two children, Latoya and Lakeisha. He also received two life sentences.
A state court found in 2004 that Black did not have an intellectual disability and could therefore be executed without violating the U.S. Supreme Court's 2002 ruling in Atkins v. Virginia
, which determined that executing a person with intellectual disabilities is impermissible under the Constitution.Subsequent rulings by the high court held that IQ scores aren't the only factors to be considered when determining if someone has an intellectual disability, and that judicial determinations must be informed by scientific consensus.
Tennessee complied with that mandate in 2021, revising its definition of intellectual disability in the context of the death penalty. In light of those changes, as well the opinions of several experts who found that Black did indeed have an intellectual disability, the state acknowledged in a stipulation that he was to be removed from death row under the new standards.
But procedural hurdles in Tennessee law made it an uphill battle for Black to present his new evidence and claims. In what his attorneys described as a "constitutional Catch-22," a state trial court ruled and an appellate court later agreed that the 2004 fitness determination made Black unable to be exempted from capital punishment. Attempts by Black to use the federal habeas process and, more recently, to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately all failed.
Black also asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene to prevent unnecessary suffering after the Tennessee Department of Correction refused to deactivate his implanted cardioverter-defibrillator, a medical device his attorneys feared could repeatedly shock him during the execution in an attempt to restore normal heart function. Although the Davidson County Chancery Court ordered the device to be turned off, the Tennessee Supreme Court later overturned that ruling on procedural grounds.
At the press conference after the execution on Tuesday, an official told reporters that the Office of the Tennessee Attorney General had determined that executing Black was lawful. Abigail Geyer, a victims representative for the Tennessee Department of Correction, appeared with family members of the victims and read aloud statements on their behalf.
A statement by Clay's sister Lynette Bell said Black never apologized for the murders, and that "he brought this on himself."
"I am thankful and grateful to see this day, the load and burden that has been lifted off our hearts, not just me, but my family with me. I thank God for making this happen," the sister said in the statement.
Henry said it took several minutes to strap Black down onto the gurney and introduce an IV line into his left arm, and that there was visible blood loss. Electrocardiogram leads were placed on Black's chest.
"You're almost home," Henry heard the spiritual adviser say as he was being prepared for execution.
Given the opportunity to provide a last statement, Black chose not to, in line with a shyness Henry said Black had exhibited throughout his life. However, Black tasked Henry, who represented him for 25 years, to deliver a statement to Black's family and friends afterward.
"I love you, and I won't ever forget you," the statement said. "All of our relationships have been very special. It was my pleasure in meeting everybody and the way we connected with each other. God bless you and thank you."
--Editing by Alanna Weissman.