NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee executed an inmate Tuesday without deactivating his implanted defibrillator , despite uncertainty about whether the device would shock his heart when the lethal chemicals took effect.

Byron Black was executed after a back-and-forth in court over whether officials would need to turn off his implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, or ICD. Black, 69, was in a wheelchair, suffering from dementia, brain damage, kidney failure, congestive heart failure and other conditions, his attorneys have said.

The nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center said it’s unaware of any other cases in which an inmate was making similar claims to Black’s about ICDs or pacemakers. Black’s attorneys said they haven’t found a comparable case, either.

In mid-July, a trial court judge

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