Tennessee execution called off after failed lethal injection

The execution of a Tennessee death row inmate has been postponed after staff were unable to find a vein to administer a lethal drug. Tony Carruthers, convicted of kidnapping and murdering three people in 1994, was set to be executed on Thursday. But the state's Department of Corrections said that while its medical team did find a primary IV line to carry out the lethal injection, they could not find a suitable second vein to establish a backup line, which is required under lethal injection execution protocol. In response, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said he would grant Carruthers a temporary reprieve from execution for one year. After finding the primary injection line, "the team continued to follow the protocol, but could not find another suitable vein", the corrections department said in a statement. "The team attempted to insert a central line pursuant to the protocol, but the procedure was unsuccessful," the statement continued. "The execution was then called off." Carruthers was convicted in 1996 for the kid­nap­ping and mur­ders of Marcellos Anderson, his mother Delois Anderson, and Frederick Tucker. The men were beaten and shot and the three were buried alive in a Memphis ce