Byron Black executed in Tennessee for killing girlfriend and her daughters

Byron Black, a 69-year-old inmate convicted in the 1988 killings of his girlfriend and her two daughters, was executed Tuesday morning in Tennessee by lethal injection. Black’s execution proceeded despite questions about whether his implanted defibrillator might activate during the process and longstanding defense claims that he was intellectually disabled.

According to the Associated Press, the execution began shortly after 10:30 a.m. at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. Black, who had multiple health conditions and used a wheelchair, was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m. Asked for any final words, he replied, “No sir.”

Witnesses said Black appeared to be in discomfort in the moments after the injection began. “Oh, it’s hurting so bad,” he said, according to media witnesses present. He lifted his head several times, sighed, and breathed heavily as a spiritual advisor stood nearby, praying and touching his face.

The AP reported that there had been uncertainty over whether Black’s implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) might interfere with the lethal injection. His legal team plans to examine data from the defibrillator as part of an autopsy.

His attorneys argued in court that he suffered from dementia, brain damage, kidney failure, congestive heart failure, and intellectual disability, but courts upheld the sentence.

Black was sentenced to death for the murders of Angela Clay, 29, and her two daughters, Latoya, 9, and Lakeisha, 6. Prosecutors said Black shot the victims in their Nashville apartment after an argument with Clay.

In a statement released by the Tennessee Department of Correction, a member of the victims’ family said the execution brought long-awaited closure.

“I thank God for this day. A day that was a long time coming. 37 years is too long and it’s not our fault,” the family member said. “And this is closure for my family, my sister, and her two daughters can finally rest in peace.”

Following the execution, Black’s attorney, Kelley Henry, called the execution “the result of pure, unbridled bloodlust and cowardice.” She said the legal process had failed her client and described the execution as a “brutal and unchecked abuse of government power.”