Defibrillator is said to have caused no pain during execution

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• The inmate Byron Black had complained of pain during his execution and lifted his head from the gurney.
• The lawyer of the man executed by lethal injection has ruled out his implanted defibrillator as the reason for the pain he expressed.
• The execution was preceded by a legal dispute as to whether the prisoner's defibrillator had to be switched off for the execution.

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The lawyer of a man executed by lethal injection in the US state of Tennessee has ruled out his implanted defibrillator as the reason for the pain expressed during the execution. Kelley Henry announced on Friday that her team had received an initial evaluation of the data from the defibrillator. However, there are still many unanswered questions. An autopsy report is not expected to be published for another eight to twelve weeks.

Byron Black had complained of pain during his execution on Tuesday and lifted his head from the gurney on which he was tied. It "hurt so much", he said. To all seven media people who witnessed the execution, it looked like he was in pain.

Attorney Henry said Black did not suffer a shock from the defibrillator. She said Black suffered during the administration of the lethal drug administered as lethal injection in Tennessee - pentobarbital. According to prison officials, Black died about ten minutes after the execution began and his expression of pain.

The execution was preceded by a legal battle over whether the inmate's defibrillator had to be turned off for the execution. It was argued that the defibrillator could cause unnecessary and painful shocks during the administration of the lethal injection in an attempt to regulate the heartbeat. In mid-July, a court granted the defense's request that the defibrillator be deactivated. However, the Supreme Court of Tennessee overturned the ruling last week on the grounds that the lower court did not have the authority to issue the order.

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Black was convicted of killing his girlfriend and her two daughters in 1988. At the time of his execution, the 69-year-old was confined to a wheelchair and suffered from dementia, brain damage, kidney failure, heart failure and other problems, his lawyers said.