Byron Black, 69, was executed for the 1988 South Nashville murders of his ex-girlfriend Angela Clay and her two daughters Latoya, 9, and Lakeisha, 6.

Tennessee executed death row inmate Byron Black on Tuesday despite raised concerns about his implanted heart device, which could cause a "prolonged and torturous execution."

The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled on July 31 that Byron Black could be executed without deactivating his implanted defibrillator, with the high court noting that requiring that the device be deactivated "amounted to a stay of execution, which is not within the lower court’s power," according to the Associated Press.