Court Rules Darrell Hines is Entitled to Know Whether the Tennessee Department of Correction Intends to Use Same Physician in August 13 Execution Who Participated in Botched May Execution Attempt, Stays Order Pending Consideration by a Higher Court
Dr. Mark Fowler failed to establish IV access during horrific failed execution of Tony Carruthers on May 21; court recognizes TDOC appears likely to be planning to use Dr. Fowler to execute Mr. Hines
(Nashville, TN, July 17, 2026) Following a hearing yesterday, the Davidson County Chancery Court granted death row prisoner Darrell Hines’s motion to compel the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) to reveal whether it plans to use the same doctor in Mr. Hines’s execution, scheduled for August 13, as it did in the horrific botched execution attempt on Tony Carruthers in May.
In his motion and supporting legal memorandum, filed last week, Mr. Hines explained that Dr. Mark Fowler’s lack of medical skills contributed to the failed execution of Mr. Carruthers, raising a serious concern that if TDOC continues to use him, Mr. Hines risks suffering during a similarly botched procedure.
In refusing to provide this information, TDOC has claimed that a state secrecy law allows it to keep the execution physician’s identity hidden, including by refusing to say whether it plans to use Dr. Fowler—whose identity TDOC itself has disclosed publicly (Memorandum in Support of Motion to Compel – supporting legal memorandum, p. 8) — to execute Mr. Hines. Dr. Fowler tried and failed for over an hour to establish intravenous access on Mr. Carruthers before that execution was halted.
During yesterday's hearing, Chancellor Russell Perkins ruled from the bench that Mr. Hines had shown it was likely TDOC would continue to use Dr. Fowler and that TDOC had waived protection of his identity. The Chancellor therefore granted Mr. Hines’s motion to compel TDOC to provide that information.
“We are pleased the court has recognized that TDOC has no legal basis to refuse to provide the basic and essential information of whether it plans to continue using a doctor whose lack of required qualifications and skills already resulted in one botched execution,” said Kit Thomas, an attorney for Darrell Hines. “It’s unconscionable that TDOC continues to withhold this information.”
Chancellor Perkins stayed TDOC’s obligation to provide its response to Mr. Hines’s attorneys until a higher court has the opportunity to review the issue.
Tennessee’s 2025 Lethal Injection Protocol requires that the execution physician be capable of inserting a central line, if necessary. (2025 Protocol pp. 8, 20) In a sworn deposition, Dr. Fowler admitted he has not conducted a central intravenous line procedure since 2013 and does not have privileges to do so at any hospital. (Fowler Dep. pp. 32, 68; Motion to Compel, p.4) “Dr. Fowler did not even know that the 2025 protocol required him to be able to set a central line—until that requirement was pointed out to him, not by [TDOC], but by [Mr. Hines’s attorneys].” (Memo on Motion to Compel, pp.4–5) He was unable to establish a central line on Mr. Carruthers.
Concerns about TDOC’s ability to conduct executions have been mounting in the wake of Tony Carruthers’s botched execution attempt and TDOC’s refusal to provide a detailed review of what went wrong.
On June 25, nine Republican State Senators sent a letter to Governor Lee requesting a pause in executions until there can be an independent review of what went wrong in the failed execution of Mr. Carruthers.
On July 2, State Representative Jody Barrett (R-District 69) sent a letter to TDOC Commissioner Frank Strada seeking detailed information about TDOC’s review of the Carruthers execution attempt and the changes it is implementing to prevent a recurrence of those problems.
On July 16, a group of Tennessee faith leaders held a news conference to express concern about Governor Lee’s refusal to pause executions and investigate how TDOC protocols failed during Mr. Carruthers’s failed execution.
In addition, on July 8, Mr. Hines’s attorneys renewed their request for Governor Bill Lee to grant a reprieve “until the Tennessee courts fully consider the constitutionality of the 2025 Lethal Injection Protocol, including its related policies and practices regarding selection and retention of execution personnel.” Mr. Hines’s attorneys also cite his seriously debilitated condition following a series of strokes earlier this year.
For more information or to speak to an attorney for Darrell Hines, please contact Laura Burstein, Laura.Burstein@squirepb.com