Tennessee Plans Another Execution Despite Its Brutal Recent Mistakes

Samson Childs, in early August, honored the anniversary of his father's death by visiting a Wingstop restaurant in Nashville with his godfather. The godfather had been imprisoned for over three decades and executed by lethal injection on August 5, 2025. Childs had been told he would not survive the execution, leaving him deeply distressed.

His father, Byron Black, was convicted in 1989 for the murders of his girlfriend and her two young daughters, a crime Black claimed he did not commit. Despite his lawyers pointing out his intellectual disability, Black was sentenced to death. In his final hours, Black suffered due to complications with his medical devices, causing him pain as prison staff struggled to administer the lethal injection.

The execution reignited debate over capital punishment in Tennessee, where the new one-drug pentobarbital protocol was introduced without legal review. Just nine months later, Tennessee attempted to execute Tony Carruthers, who was found guilty in 1996 of a triple murder he denied committing. Tennessee officials faced similar struggles with the IV administration process, but eventually intervened, putting Carruthers's execution on hold for a year. The next execution, scheduled for Anthony Darrell Hines, is set for Thursday at 10 a.m.