Tennessee Schedules Execution of Darrell Hines Amid New Legal Challenge

A lethal-injection execution of Darrell Hines is set for Thursday in Tennessee. Hines, convicted of the 1985 murder of motel employee Katherine Jenkins, remains on death row at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution. Hours before the scheduled execution, his attorneys filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent prison staff from forcibly straightening his left arm or unclenching his left hand during the procedure. The filing argues that the arm’s limited mobility, caused by recent strokes, would make the required restraint painful and could impede IV access.

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The challenge follows a failed execution in May, when an IV team and a physician spent roughly an hour and 15 minutes attempting to locate viable veins for inmate Tony Carruthers before the warden halted the process. Hines has suffered two strokes—one in late 2025 and another in early 2026—leaving him partially paralyzed and partially blind on his left side, unable to straighten his left arm or open his hand. He has been confined to a wheelchair or bed for the past eight months.

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• Age: 66 years.

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• Medical condition: muscular atrophy, left-side paralysis, clenched left hand.

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• Time since last stroke: approximately eight months.

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• May 21 botched execution: 1 hour 15 minutes of IV-line attempts before the procedure was stopped.

The Guardian

Governor Bill Lee declined to grant clemency, stating that after “deliberate consideration” he is upholding Hines’ sentence and will not intervene. The Tennessee Department of Correction has not responded to inquiries about whether a qualified physician will administer the lethal drugs or whether the drugs have undergone quality-control testing. The state attorney general’s office also declined comment.

The Guardian

Hines’ legal team, led by attorney Kit Thomas, warns that lifting a partially paralyzed man from his long-term hospital bed and strapping him to a gurney could cause severe pain and humiliation. Nine Republican state senators, who support capital punishment, have written to Governor Lee urging an independent review of the Carruthers botched execution and testing of the lethal-injection drugs before another execution proceeds.

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• Physician involvement: Attorneys have asked the court to compel the state to confirm whether Dr. Mark Fowler, who was deposed after the Carruthers execution and admitted his last central IV line was placed in 2013, will participate in Hines’ execution. The Tennessee Supreme Court denied a request to force such disclosure.

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• Drug verification: Hines’ lawyers have sought confirmation that the execution drugs are not expired and have undergone proper storage and quality-control testing. The corrections department has not answered these queries.

The Guardian

• “It’s grotesque. It’s particularly horrifying to think of them lifting a partially paralyzed man from his hospital bed, which he’s lived in for the last eight months, then strapping him to a gurney, while executioners attempt to establish IV access.” — Kit Thomas, attorney for Darrell Hines

The Guardian

• “All the lawyers want to know is, will there be a qualified physician on staff? That's a very reasonable request for them to make,” — Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center

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