Tennessee execution of man with heart device ‘result of pure cowardice’

Byron Black, 69, put to death after legal battle in which lawyers said defibrillator would shock heart repeatedly

Tennessee has executed a man without deactivating his implanted defibrillator, despite uncertainty about whether the device would shock his heart when a lethal drug took effect.

Byron Black died at 10.43am, prison officials said. Shortly after the lethal injection started, witnesses said Black told a spiritual adviser in the room that he was hurting badly.