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NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WTVF) — Anthony Darrell Hines was executed by lethal injection Thursday morning for the 1985 murder of Catherine Jean Jenkins. He was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m. CDT.
His final words were: “Tell my son hello.”
Hines was convicted of stabbing Jenkins to death while she was working as a motel maid in Kingston Springs. Jenkins was 54 years old.
Hines was initially sentenced to death in 1986. He later won an appeal that resulted in a new sentencing hearing, but he was sentenced to death again in 1989.
The 66-year-old was executed three months after Tennessee called off the attempted execution of Tony Carruthers because of difficulties establishing an IV line.
Ahead of his own execution, Hines unsuccessfully asked the courts and Gov. Bill Lee to intervene. His attorneys raised concerns about the execution team and argued Hines could also be difficult to establish an IV on because he was thin and had experienced muscular atrophy after suffering two strokes.
During Carruthers’ attempted execution in May, the IV team was able to establish one line but spent more than an hour trying to place a backup. Attempts were made in his arm, hand and foot before the team tried to establish a central line.
Lee ultimately stopped Carruthers’ execution and granted him a one-year reprieve.
The state did not disclose whether the same doctor involved in Carruthers’ attempted execution would oversee Hines’ execution. The Tennessee Supreme Court rejected Hines’ challenge, finding he had not shown the doctor was unqualified and describing the earlier IV problems as an isolated incident.
Following Hines’ execution, his attorney Katherine Dix released a statement saying she grieved both for Jenkins’ family and for Hines:
“I’d like to start by saying that I grieve for the family of Catherine Jean Jenkins. May God be with you.
I also grieve the violence the State of Tennessee inflicted on us all today. On Darrell, of course, who was poisoned to death, just moments ago. On those of us required by our jobs to stand passively and watch Darrell be murdered. On the prison guards and officials whose jobs require them to participate. On Darrell’s son, who met Darrell four days ago for the first time and watched him die this morning. What we witnessed here today is not normal, and I urge us all to not become numb or indifferent to the cruelty.
Darrell’s family and his legal team cared for him deeply. He endured a childhood filled with the worst kinds of poverty and abuse. His family and community failed to make sure that he had enough food to eat and a safe and stable home. Darrell bore the scars of many years of abuse but could still make you laugh. He was a masterful storyteller. He loved fantasy books and the escape those stories provided. He was funny. He was loyal. He lived by a code. He was a child of God.
The leaders of this state repeatedly invoke the sanctity of life, but today the State put to death a man who was blind and paralyzed on his left side, could not walk, and was in constant pain. They lifted his body onto a gurney and wheeled him to the death chamber. May God have mercy on us all.”
Katherine Dix, attorney for Darrell Hines
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