Tennessee executed death row inmate Anthony Darrell Hines, 66, at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.
After administration of a lethal injection, Hines was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m. Thursday for the 1985 murder of Catherine Jean Jenkins.
Jenkins' family members attended the execution and spoke to the media afterward, expressing relief and a sense of justice after waiting decades to close that chapter of their lives, contrasting sharply with the deep grief expressed by Hines' attorney, Katherine Dix, over the state-inflicted violence and the execution of a medically fragile man.
Hines' execution moved forward despite last-minute legal challenges from his attorneys, who argued that his poor health—including partial paralysis from recent strokes—could complicate IV access following a previously botched execution attempt by the state in May.
During the procedure, witnesses observed Hines decline a final statement and experience audible physical distress before his time of death was officially called.
