US lawyers fear Tennessee could execute inmate with expired lethal drugs

Lawyers for Tony Carruthers, a death row inmate in Tennessee, said they fear state authorities may be planning to use expired lethal injection drugs for his scheduled execution on June 5. The case has sparked nationwide concern over execution methods and a lack of transparency in drug procurement procedures.

Carruthers' attorneys sent two letters to the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) last month, asking for confirmation that the state has sufficient suitable drugs for the execution date and that they remain within their shelf life. Deputy Attorney General John W. Ayers responded indirectly, saying only that the agency would follow lethal injection protocols, including regular inventory checks to track expiration dates.

Tony Carruthers, 57, was sentenced to death for kidnapping and murdering Marcellos Anderson, his mother Delois Anderson, and Frederick Tucker in 1994. When asked by the Associated Press whether the drugs for Carruthers had expired, TDOC declined to comment. Governor Bill Lee's office also did not immediately respond.

Amy Harwell, a federal public defender, stressed in an email that expiration dates reflect when a drug is no longer safe to achieve its intended effect. “In the context of an execution, this could mean a slow, prolonged death without reliable unconsciousness, as the body suffers and gradually shuts down,” Harwell wrote.

Public opposition to executions has made it difficult for prisons to purchase lethal injection drugs, a persistent problem for states using the method. Some states have been forced to accelerate or halt executions entirely due to expired drugs. In South Carolina, executions were suspended for 12 years because the state could not obtain drugs. Only after enacting a shield law protecting supplier identities could it resume purchases.

Tennessee has argued in court that its shield law also applies to disclosing expiration dates. However, during the execution of Harold Nichols in December 2024, Deputy Attorney General Cody Brandon offered to provide a statement “confirming that the chemicals used in Mr. Nichols' execution would not expire before the execution and had not expired.” “TDOC's willingness to provide such assurances for Mr. Nichols but not for Mr. Carruthers raises serious concerns that TDOC actually intends to use expired drugs,” Harwell wrote in a May 18 letter to Ayers.

Difficulties from Arkansas to Idaho

In 2017, then-Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson ordered the execution of eight death row inmates to beat the expiration date of a batch of lethal injection drugs. The state executed four; the other four received stays. Arkansas has conducted no executions since, partly due to drug procurement difficulties. In 2023, a group of Texas death row inmates failed to block the state from using drugs they claimed were expired and unsafe. Prison officials denied the allegations and insisted the drug supply was safe.

In 2024, lawyers for Idaho death row inmates raised similar concerns when the state planned a second execution of Thomas Creech after a failed first attempt. The Idaho Federal Public Defender Service said prison officials apparently did not even check drug expiration dates before seeking a death warrant for Creech. Nine days later, the drugs were returned to the supplier because they had expired. A new Idaho law shifted primary execution method to firing squad, partly due to difficulties in procuring injection drugs.

Tennessee execution drug scandals

Tennessee has a history of execution drug problems. In 2022, Oscar Smith was minutes from execution when Governor Bill Lee issued an unexpected reprieve, revealing that the state's lethal injection drugs had not been properly tested for purity and potency. Executions were suspended for two years pending an independent investigation. The state attorney general's office was forced to admit in court that two officials responsible for overseeing Tennessee's execution drugs had “given false testimony” when they said officials had tested chemicals according to procedures.

Tennessee released a new lethal injection protocol in December 2024 and resumed executions in 2025. Several death row inmates have sued over the new procedures, arguing TDOC ignored the investigation's recommendations. The new protocol has not been smooth. When Byron Black was executed by lethal injection in August 2025, he said he was “in too much pain.” Prison officials have not explained the cause of the pain.