With weeks left before his sched­uled exe­cu­tion on May 21, 2026, coun­sel for Tennessee death-sen­tenced pris­on­er Tony Carruthers has asked the Tennessee Supreme Court to order DNA test­ing that they argue could prove their client’s inno­cence. On April 9, lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed an emer­gency motion seek­ing DNA test­ing ​“on spe­cif­ic pieces of pro­ba­tive phys­i­cal evi­dence, most of which has nev­er been test­ed, and which will like­ly point to the real per­pe­tra­tor or per­pe­tra­tors and avoid a wrongful execution.”

Mr. Carruthers was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death for his alleged involve­ment in the kid­nap­ping and mur­der of Marcellos Anderson, Delois Anderson, and Frederick Tucker in 1994. Mr. Carruthers has long main­tained his inno­cence. Forensic evi­dence has nev­er con­nect­ed Mr. Carruthers to the crime, and his con­vic­tion relied almost entire­ly on the tes­ti­mo­ny of a jail­house infor­mant, who Mr. Carruthers’ coun­sel now knows was paid for his testimony.