• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Nashville's local news and NPR station

Search
Listen Listen
Give Now
  • Search
  • News
    • Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom
    • Arts, Culture & Music
    • Criminal Justice
    • Curious Nashville
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health Care
    • Housing
    • Metro Government
    • Race & Equity
    • State Politics
  • Schedule
    • WPLN-FM
    • WPLN International
  • Support
    • Give Now
    • Ways to Support
    • The Producers’ Circle
    • Donor Hub
    • Donate A Car
    • Give Stock
    • Business Support
    • Planned Giving
  • Shows + Podcasts
    • NashVillager
    • This Is Nashville
    • The Promise
    • Curious Nashville
    • See All
  • NashVillager
    • Podcast
    • Newsletter
  • Events
  • Giveaways
  • Donor Hub
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Criminal Justice

With victims on his mind, this Tennessee man shows up to voice support for executions

By Tasha A.F. Lemley

August 7, 2025

Listen

Meet the vocal demonstrator who has shown up in support of executions in Tennessee.

Filed Under: Criminal Justice, Features, WPLN News Tagged With: criminal justice, death penalty

Tennessee executes Byron Black despite worries about his heart implant

By Catherine SweeneyandPaige Pfleger

August 5, 2025

The state of Tennessee executed Byron Black on Tuesday morning. The 69-year-old was convicted of killing his girlfriend and her daughters in 1988. The execution was carried out by lethal injection despite uncertainty about Black’s heart implant.

Filed Under: Criminal Justice, Health Care, WPLN News Tagged With: Byron Black, death penalty, lethal injection, Tennessee Department of Correction, Tennessee Supreme Court

Police arrest suspect in killings of 4 Tennessee family members

By Tony GonzalezandThe Associated Press

August 5, 2025

Police in Tennessee have arrested the man wanted for the killings of an infant’s parents, grandmother and uncle. Authorities say 28-year-old Austin Robert Drummond is now in custody and that his arrest occurred Tuesday.

Filed Under: Criminal Justice, WPLN News Tagged With: crime, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation

Medical ethics and a prisoner’s heart implant complicate next execution in Tennessee

By Catherine Sweeney

August 1, 2025

Listen

Tennessee’s highest court says the state can execute Byron Black without deprogramming a heart implant. It’s a tension that has intensified because of ethical codes in medicine.

Filed Under: Criminal Justice, Health Care, WPLN News Tagged With: Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, Byron Black, death penalty, lethal injection, Tennessee Department of Correction

Tennessee authorities search for a man wanted in 4 deaths linked to an abandoned baby

By The Associated Press

August 1, 2025

Authorities are searching for a man wanted in the deaths of a four people found in a remote area in northwest Tennessee. Two of those killed were the parents of an infant discovered in a front yard more than 30 miles away.

Filed Under: Criminal Justice, WPLN News Tagged With: crime, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation

Tennessee can execute man despite medical complications, state supreme court rules

By Marianna Bacallao

July 31, 2025

Tennessee is moving forward with executing a man on death row next week, despite concerns that a heart implant may prolong his death or worsen his pain.

Filed Under: Criminal Justice, Politics, WPLN News Tagged With: American Baptist College, Bill Lee, Byron Black, Davie Tucker, death penalty, lethal injection, Tennessee Department of Correction

Nashville General Hospital won’t disable death row inmate’s implant, contradicting state’s account in court

By Catherine Sweeney

July 30, 2025

Nashville General Hospital says it never agreed to deactivate a death row inmate’s device, raising a new question before the scheduled execution of Byron Black.

Filed Under: Criminal Justice, Health Care, WPLN News Tagged With: Byron Black, death penalty, lethal injection, Tennessee Department of Correction

What to know about Tennessee’s scheduled execution of Byron Black

By Catherine Sweeney

July 25, 2025

Listen

There are several unknowns about Byron Black’s scheduled execution — including about his developmental disability and the ongoing legal fight about his heart defibrillator implant.

Filed Under: Criminal Justice, Health Care, WPLN News Tagged With: Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, Byron Black, death penalty, executions, lethal injection, Tennessee Department of Correction

TDOC pushback on execution court order amounts to ‘passive aggression,’ judge says

By Catherine Sweeney

July 22, 2025

It appeared the intense debate was over when a judge ordered the Tennessee Department of Correction to disable a death row inmate’s heart implant before his execution. But now, the department is arguing it can’t comply.

Filed Under: Criminal Justice, Health Care, WPLN News Tagged With: Byron Black, death penalty, lethal injection, lethal injection protocol

Court order: Tennessee prisoner’s heart implant must be deprogrammed before his execution

By Catherine Sweeney

July 19, 2025

A judge sided with Byron Black, the man scheduled for Tennessee’s next execution, and ordered the state to disable his heart implant before he undergoes a lethal injection.

Filed Under: Criminal Justice, Health Care, WPLN News Tagged With: death penalty, executions, lethal injection, Tennessee Department of Correction

Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Become a sponsor?
Become a sponsor?
Become a sponsor?

Footer

About

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Staff
  • Employment Opportunities
  • Impact Report
  • Financial, FCC and CPB Reports
  • WPLN News Transparency Report
  • FCC Public File
  • Board of Directors
  • Privacy Policy

Listen

  • Ways To Listen
  • Shows & Podcasts
  • iPhone App
  • Android App
  • Alexa Smart Speakers

Sister Stations

  • WPLN International
  • 91.ONE, WNXP
  • Nashville Classical Radio

Stay Connected

  • Contact News Department
  • Receive Our Newsletters
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
WPLN News, Nashville Public Radio
630 Mainstream Drive
Nashville, TN 37228

Phone: (615) 760-2903
©2025 Nashville Public Radio

on-air light On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM

Pop-Up Player : All Channels
Launch Streaming Player