On 21 May 2026, in a Tennessee prison, the attempt to execute Tony Carruthers (57) was halted after an hour. Medical staff could not find a suitable vein for the backup IV that the state's death penalty protocol requires. The governor of Tennessee eventually postponed the execution by a year - but by then it was already too late for it to be painless for a man who immediately reacted with crying and convulsions.

"It is incredible. I am so grateful," said Maria DeLibetato, Carruthers's attorney, when she learned of the postponement. She testified that the condemned man "was writhing and screaming" while they searched for a second vein. That's not the picture Tennessee wants to see in the media, but it's the picture medical staff, with all their experience, could not avoid.

The view from the other side: the Tennessee Department of Corrections confirmed they had managed to establish the main intravenous line, but not the backup. Attempts at a central line also failed. That's the technical statement. It's the death penalty turned into a medical procedure that doesn't work.

Carruthers's case is old. He was convicted in 1994 of a triple murder - Marcellos Anderson, his mother Delois Anderson, and Frederick Tucker. But facts that were quieted then and are obvious now: there was no physical evidence directly tying him to the crime. The conviction rested on witness testimony - including a police informant who was later revealed to have been paid for his testimony.

Carruthers's co-defendant, James Montgomery, had his death sentence commuted and was released from prison in 2015. Two men convicted of the same crime - one free, one on death row. That's what justice looks like when it's based on the testimony of a man who has since admitted he lied.

Will 12 months be enough for the courts to reconsider the case? Probably not. The death penalty systems in the US again have their own dynamic. But 12 months will be enough for Tennessee to re-examine its procedures, and to make sure that next time, the technology doesn't betray the political narrative of "swift justice."