田纳西州本周四计划对死刑犯达雷尔·海恩斯进行执行[1]。海恩斯因1985年谋杀凯瑟琳·简·杰克逊·詹金斯被定罪[1]。这项计划遭到其律师的强烈反对，他们已向美国最高法院请求干预[1]。
海恩斯律师的顾虑源于该州今年早些时候的一次失败执行。5月21日，托尼·卡鲁瑟斯的执行被取消，整个过程耗时超过一小时，执行人员在其身上穿刺超过12次[1]。共和党州长比尔·李随后给予卡鲁瑟斯一年缓期[1]。海恩斯的律师质疑执行所用药物是否过期、是否经过质量控制测试以及是否妥善存储[1]，担忧他可能面临同样的痛苦经历[1]。
执行程序的保密性和医疗人员资质问题引发关注[1]。主持此类执行的医生马克·福勒最后一次放置中心静脉线的记录追溯至2013年左右[1]。卡鲁瑟斯失败执行事件曝光后，6月份有9名支持死刑的田纳西州共和党州参议员致函州长，要求对该事件进行独立审查[1]。
Tennessee is moving forward with the execution of Darrell Haynes this week, despite a bungled lethal injection attempt on another prisoner just months earlier.[1] Haynes was convicted in 1985 of the murder of Catherine Jane Jackson Jenkins.[1] His legal team has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for intervention, arguing that he may face similar complications during his own execution.[1]
The state's decision comes after a deeply troubled execution in May when authorities attempted to execute Tony Carruthers but abandoned the procedure after more than an hour of failed attempts.[1] During that failed execution, medical personnel punctured Carruthers' veins more than twelve times before the state's Republican Governor Bill Lee granted him a one-year reprieve.[1] The ordeal raised serious questions about execution protocols and personnel qualifications. Dr. Mark Fuller, who has been involved in placing central lines for executions, last performed such a procedure around 2013.[1]
Haynes' attorneys have questioned whether the execution drugs are expired, whether proper quality control testing has been conducted, and whether medications have been stored correctly.[1] In June, nine pro-death penalty Republican state senators in Tennessee sent a letter to the governor requesting an independent review of the failed Carruthers execution.[1] The lack of transparency surrounding execution procedures and concerns about medical personnel qualifications have drawn bipartisan attention to the state's lethal injection practices.[1]