One by one , the media witnesses approached the microphone to describe what they saw at the execution of Byron Black. Speaking at a podium outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, each said a version of the same thing: Black, 69, had suffered before he died.

The lethal injection had been scheduled for 10 a.m. The curtain to the death chamber opened a half hour later, revealing Black strapped down tight to the gurney and covered with a white sheet. Minutes after the massive dose of pentobarbital started to flow, “he began breathing loudly and sighing,” said a reporter from the local NPR station WPLN. Black raised his head and looked around, then said, “It’s hurting so bad.”

“I’m so sorry,” his spiritual adviser replied.

Another reporter said she saw Black lift his

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