KINGSTON SPRINGS, Tenn. (WTVF) — A Tennessee death row inmate scheduled to be executed next month is at the center of a new legal fight tied to the state’s most recent failed execution attempt.
Anthony “Darrell” Hines, 66, is scheduled to be executed Aug. 13 for the 1985 murder of Catherine Jenkins, a motel maid in Kingston Springs.
This week, a Davidson County judge ruled Hines is entitled to learn whether the Tennessee Department of Correction plans to use the same physician involved in the failed May execution attempt of death row inmate Tony Carruthers.
The ruling came after Hines’ attorneys argued the state should disclose whether Dr. Mark Fowler — the physician connected to the Carruthers execution attempt — would participate in Hines’ execution. Court filings say Fowler struggled for more than an hour to establish intravenous access before Carruthers’ execution was halted.
The judge temporarily paused the order while a higher court reviews the issue. Hines’ execution remains scheduled for Aug. 13.
For Melissa Jenkins, the daughter of victim Catherine Jenkins, the latest legal battle has reopened decades of grief.
“She would walk to church in the snow. She would help anybody that needed help,” Jenkins said of her mother. “She would take people into Nashville for doctor’s appointments if they needed a ride. She would help people in the community if they needed help.”
Melissa Jenkins was 22 years old when prosecutors say Hines robbed, raped and murdered her mother while she worked at a motel near Interstate 40 in March 1985.
“It changed me in a lot of ways,” Jenkins said. “I’m actually kind of worried about what’s going to happen to me after this is over. I don’t know how I’m going to be.”
More than four decades later, Jenkins said her family is still waiting for closure.
“I want it to be over,” she said. “I don’t want to have to continue to grieve because of this man.”
Jenkins said she does not believe concerns surrounding Tennessee’s execution procedures should delay the case further.
“It shouldn’t stop it because of that,” she said. “It’s an isolated incident, a one-off kind of thing. It shouldn’t affect anything else.”
The failed execution attempt of Tony Carruthers has intensified scrutiny of Tennessee’s lethal injection process. Lawmakers and faith leaders have recently called for additional review of the state’s execution procedures.
Hines’ attorneys have argued the state’s execution protocol requires physicians capable of performing advanced intravenous procedures if necessary. They contend Fowler lacked the qualifications and experience required under the state’s policy.
Tennessee’s Department of Correction has not publicly said whether Fowler would participate in Hines’ execution.
For Jenkins, the debate over execution procedures does not outweigh the brutality of her mother’s death.
“Nothing is more cruel and unusual than stabbing a 54-year-old grandmother to death and then raping her with the knife,” she said. “Nothing is more cruel and unusual than that.”
She said the repeated court proceedings over the last four decades have forced her family to relive the trauma again and again.
“The last 41 years of constant dredging up of this and having to relive it — it’s constant grieving over and over,” Jenkins said.
After 40 years, she said she wants people to remember the victim at the center of the case.
“My main thing is to get my mom’s name spelled correctly and to try to get where everybody remembers that there was a victim, not just a criminal,” Jenkins said.
Unless courts intervene, Hines is scheduled to be executed Aug. 13.
This story was reported on-air by journalist Kelsey Gibbs and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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