1. The State of Tennessee is scheduled to execute Tony Carruthers Thursday
The Supreme Court of Tennessee ordered the state execution of Tony Carruthers last year and set the date for May 21, 2026.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said he will not stop it. In a statement Tuesday, he said:
”After deliberate consideration of Tony Von Carruthers’ request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene.”
2. Buried alive: the murder
“In 1994, Tony Carruthers and James Montgomery were charged with the first degree murders of Marcellos Anderson, his mother Delois Anderson, and Frederick Taylor, all of whom were buried alive beneath a casket in a Memphis cemetery,” reads court documents.
Those document say Marcellos Anderson sold drugs, wore expensive jewelry, and was known to carry large amounts of cash. No jewelry or cash was found on his body.
Anderson was a friend of Caruthers. Anderson had given him $200 when he was released form prison on a previous case. Carruthers, though, told inmates at the time of that incarceration he had a “master plan,” which was to allegedly to kill Anderson and take his money.
In February 1994, Carruthers and an associate kidnapped Anderson, his mother, and Taylor. They were never seen alive again.
On a tip, police dug up a grave at Rose Hill Cemetery on Elvis Presley Boulevard. Under a casket and a wood vault, they found the three bodies of Anderson, his mother, and Taylor.
“Thus, it can be inferred that the bodies of the three victims were placed in the grave and covered with dirt and a piece of plywood prior to the casket being placed in the grave.”
tncourts.gov
”There was no evidence to suggest that…. [the] casket had been disturbed after [the person] was buried,” reads the court documents. “Thus, it can be inferred that the bodies of the three victims were placed in the grave and covered with dirt and a piece of plywood prior to the casket being placed in the grave.”
The men had been hit and one had been shot in the chest before the burial. The mother “died from asphyxia caused by several factors: the position of her head against her body, dirt in her mouth and nose, and trauma from weight on her body.”
3. His lawyers say there is no evidence
From a court motion:
“Mr. Carruthers’ conviction is based entirely on circumstantial evidence, including testimony from a secretly paid informant, several convicted felons, and the medical examiner’s false and discredited testimony.
“No physical evidence links Mr. Carruthers to the murders.”
In April, Carruthers’ lawyers asked the court to stall the execution to test new fingerprint evidence in the case.
4. Carruthers had to represent himself
He fired his lawyers repeatedly. Ultimately, he had to represent himself. Though the ACLU said he never “sought self-representation and repeatedly requested counsel.”
“Because Tony didn’t have a lawyer, key aspects of the prosecution’s case went unchallenged, including the circumstances surrounding [a witness’] statements and his relationship with the state,” the ACLU said of the case. “Tony’s trial was so filled with errors due to his forced self-representation that on appeal the court found that his co-defendant, deserved a new trial.
“If Tony is executed, he would be the first person in nearly a century to be put to death after being forced to represent himself at trial.”
5. Lawyers fear the state will use expired drugs for the execution
While the state is allowed to use expired drugs for execution, they could “act unpredictably, cause severe pain, and/or fail to induce unconsciousness.”
That’s according to Drew Brazer an Assistant Federal Prosecutor in the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Brazer said an email shows that the state recently spent $625,000 on execution-related services recently. He said it seemed likely the money was spent to buy the drugs that will be used to kill Carruthers Thursday.
Brazer’s office sought assurances from the state against the notion of using expired drugs. But has not yet received any word from them.
The unpredictability of the drugs could violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against “cruel and unusual punishment,” the office says, especially if they cause undue pain.
“Despite our repeated requests for clarification, all the (Tennessee Department of Correction – TDOC) has said is that it would follow the protocol,” said Amy Harwell, First Assistant Federal Public Defender for the Middle District of Tennessee. “But the protocol seems to allow TDOC to use expired drugs.”