NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee death row inmate can be executed without deactivating his implanted defibrillator, the state's high court ruled on Thursday.

The ruling overturns a lower court's order and paves the way for Byron Black to be executed on Tuesday morning, as scheduled.

The Tennessee Supreme Court found that requiring that the device be deactivated "amounted to a stay of execution," which is not within the lower court's power.

At issue is how Black's heart-regulating device will perform when the state attempts to execute him with a lethal injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital. Davidson County Chancery Court Judge Russell Perkins previously found that the implanted cardioverter-defibrillator is likely to continuously shock Black's heart, causing unnecessary pain and prolong

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