NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — With just weeks left before Byron Black's scheduled execution, a Davidson County chancellor is weighing whether the state must remove a heart defibrillator from his chest beforehand.

Black's attorneys argue the device, implanted to regulate his heartbeat, could interfere with Tennessee's lethal injection process and cause what they describe as torturous death. The defense team asked the court this week to approve surgical removal of the device ahead of the Aug. 5 execution date.

Black was sentenced to death in 1989 for the murder of 6-year-old Lakeisha Clay. He also received life sentences for killing his ex-girlfriend Angela Clay and her 9-year-old daughter, Latoya. The three were shot to death in their Nashville home in March 1988. Investigators said Black used the same gun he had previously used to shoot Angela's ex-husband, the father of both children.

Now, at age 67, Black's attorneys said he suffers from dementia and severe brain damage and is no longer mentally competent to be executed.

Earlier this year, Davidson County District Attorney Glenn Funk agreed, stating Black's condition rendered him ineligible for capital punishment under Tennessee law. However, the Tennessee Supreme Court denied a request for a hearing on July 8, ruling there was insufficient medical evidence to justify intervention.

That ruling cleared the way for the state to proceed with the execution, but it raised new questions about how it would happen.

On Monday, Black's legal team presented testimony from a neuropsychologist and an anesthesiologist, both supporting the argument that the defibrillator could complicate lethal injection by repeatedly shocking the body during the process. The state responded Wednesday, calling its own experts, including Dr. Joe Antognini.

State experts said the device would deliver no more than eight shocks total and that Black would be unconscious and unlikely to feel them.

This case is considered unique in Tennessee's modern death penalty era.

If the execution moves forward with the device still implanted, it would be the first known instance of the state executing someone with a functioning defibrillator.

Chancellor Russell Perkins is expected to issue a ruling on the matter Thursday or Friday. While he does not have the authority to stop the execution entirely, his decision will determine whether the state must remove the life-saving device before carrying out the death sentence.

Unless a stay is granted by Gov. Bill Lee or the U.S. Supreme Court, Byron Black is scheduled to be executed on Aug. 5 at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/nashville/judge-to-decide-whether-defibrillator-must-be-removed-before-byron-blacks-execution/