Tony Carruthers, 57, is scheduled to die Thursday morning at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, marking what his attorneys say would be the first execution of someone forced to represent himself at trial in more than a century.
Carruthers was convicted in 1994 of kidnapping and murdering Marcellos Anderson, his mother Delois Anderson, and Frederick Tucker in Memphis. He insisted on representing himself during trial despite having court-appointed attorneys available, repeatedly criticizing them and threatening violence against several. The jury that convicted him heard primarily from witnesses who claimed he confessed to or discussed the crimes.
His legal team, working with the American Civil Liberties Union, has mounted a vigorous challenge to the conviction, arguing that physical evidence from the crime scene has never been tested. No DNA or fingerprint analysis has been completed on materials collected during the investigation. His attorneys also contend he is mentally incompetent, describing paranoia and delusions that prevented him from cooperating with counsel. The trial judge, however, characterized his behavior as willful defiance rather than mental illness.
A critical piece of evidence used against Carruthers came from a medical examiner who testified that the victims were buried alive, providing graphic details intended to horrify the jury. That examiner later recanted the claim. Subsequent experts have determined the assertion was false, yet it shaped the jury's perception of the crime's brutality.
Carruthers's mental state has only deteriorated since conviction. Court documents reveal he believes his government is fabricating the execution threat to pressure him into accepting a fictitious plea deal. He is convinced authorities owe him millions of dollars and that his own attorneys are conspiring against him. He refuses to communicate with his legal team.
Prosecutors maintain that Carruthers was attempting to seize control of the illegal drug trade in Memphis and that Anderson was a rival dealer, providing a motive for murder.
Beyond questions about evidence and competency, another concern shadows the execution. Carruthers's attorneys have twice asked the Tennessee Department of Correction about the lethal injection drugs scheduled for use, specifically whether they have expired or meet purity and potency standards. The assistant attorney general did not directly answer, only asserting the department would follow protocol.
This evasion echoes Tennessee's troubled history with execution drugs. A three-year pause in executions ended last year after investigators discovered the state had failed to properly test lethal injection drugs. In 2022, Oscar Smith came within minutes of execution before Governor Bill Lee issued a reprieve after learning the drugs had not been adequately tested. Tennessee overhauled its protocol in 2024 and resumed executions in 2025.
A federal judge denied a request to delay Carruthers's execution earlier this week. Petitions seeking clemency from Governor Lee have gathered more than 100,000 signatures, according to the Reverend Stacy Rector, executive director of Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
Author James Rodriguez: "A century-old rule designed to protect the innocent gets turned on its head when the person most harmed by it faces lethal injection, and the state won't even confirm the drugs aren't expired."
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