Nashville, Tennessee - The execution by lethal injection of an incarcerated man in Tennessee was halted on Thursday after medical staff were unable to tap a vein, officials said.

Tony Carruthers (57) was scheduled to be put to death at a prison in Nashville for the 1994 murders of Delois Anderson, her son Marcellos Anderson, and Frederick Tucker.

The Tennessee Department of Corrections said medical personnel established a primary IV line to deliver the lethal drugs, but could not find a suitable vein for a backup line.

"The execution was then called off," the department said in a statement.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee granted Carruthers, who has maintained his innocence, a one-year reprieve from execution.

Stacy Rector, executive director of Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said the "botched execution attempt of Tony Carruthers is horrifying but not surprising."

"TADP has sounded the alarm for years about the serious problems with lethal injection and urged our state toward greater transparency so these problems can be addressed," Rector said.

13 executions have been carried out in the US this year – six in Florida, four in Texas, two in Oklahoma, and one in Arizona.

There were 47 executions in the country last year, the most since 2009, when 52 people were put to death.

Florida carried out the most executions in 2025, with 19, followed by Alabama, South Carolina, and Texas, where there were five each.

39 of last year's executions were carried out by lethal injection.