People searching “Anthony Darrell Hines Wikipedia” are usually trying to piece together a 40-year-old case that just ended in an execution. This article lays out what’s actually confirmed: who Hines was, what he was convicted of, why his case took four decades to resolve, and what happened at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution this week. A note up front: this is a factual account of a criminal case, not a celebrity profile, and it centers the facts of the crime and the victim rather than glamorizing the person convicted of it.
Background: Who Was Anthony Darrell Hines?
Anthony Darrell Dugard Hines was a Tennessee death row inmate convicted of first-degree felony murder for the 1985 killing of Catherine Jean Jenkins, a 54-year-old motel maid. He spent roughly 40 years on death row while his case moved through state courts, federal appeals courts, and eventually the U.S. Supreme Court. People are searching his name now because Tennessee carried out his execution this week, closing out one of the state’s longest-running capital cases.
Latest Update
Tennessee executed Anthony Darrell Hines by lethal injection on Thursday, August 13, 2026, at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. He was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m. CDT. Governor Bill Lee declined to intervene or grant clemency, and the U.S. Supreme Court did not block the execution despite last-minute appeals from Hines’s legal team.
Hines’s attorneys had argued the execution could go wrong, pointing to Tennessee’s botched attempt to execute Tony Carruthers in May 2026, when the execution team spent more than an hour trying to place a backup IV line. They also said Hines had suffered two strokes and had muscular atrophy that could make finding a vein difficult. In the end, the execution proceeded roughly 30 minutes behind schedule, and no problems with the IV process were publicly reported. Hines’s attorney, Katherine Dix, released a statement afterward expressing grief for both the Jenkins family and for her client, calling the process “not normal.” Reports also noted that Hines met his son for the first time four days before the execution, and his son was among the witnesses.
No new legal action or additional developments have been confirmed since the execution took place.
Full Case Profile
Early Life
Public case files and legal filings say little about Hines’s upbringing. One secondary source lists his birthdate as April 20, 1960, in Raleigh, North Carolina, which is roughly consistent with news reports stating he was 66 at the time of his August 2026 execution. That specific birthdate has not been independently confirmed by a major news outlet or court record reviewed for this article, so it should be treated as unconfirmed rather than settled fact.
The Crime
In early March 1985, Hines, then 24, left Raleigh by bus, headed toward Bowling Green, Kentucky. Rather than continuing straight through, he stopped near Kingston Springs, Tennessee, and checked into the CeBon Motel off Interstate 40. On March 3, 1985, Catherine Jean Jenkins, a 54-year-old maid, was left in charge of the motel office with a bank bag holding 100 dollars for guest checkouts. She was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death in one of the rooms. Witnesses later reported seeing Hines flee in a car with what appeared to be blood on his shirt, and family members told investigators he admitted to stabbing someone at the motel.
Trial and Convictions
A Cheatham County jury convicted Hines of first-degree felony murder in 1986 and sentenced him to death. On direct appeal, the Tennessee Supreme Court upheld the conviction but found the jury had received flawed sentencing instructions, so the case was sent back for a new sentencing hearing. In 1989, a second jury also returned a death sentence, and the state’s highest court affirmed that sentence in 1995.
Appeals and Legal History
Hines maintained his innocence for four decades and argued his original trial lawyers failed to properly investigate an alternate suspect, a man named Kenneth Jones who discovered Jenkins’s body. In 2020, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed his lawyers had been ineffective and ordered a new trial. The State of Tennessee appealed that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, which reversed the Sixth Circuit in 2021 in the case Mays v. Hines, ruling that the evidence of guilt was strong enough that the alleged legal errors did not change the outcome. After that reversal, Hines had exhausted his primary avenues of appeal, and Tennessee scheduled his execution for August 13, 2026.
Clemency Request and Execution
Ahead of the execution, Hines and his legal team asked both the courts and Governor Bill Lee for clemency or a delay, largely centered on concerns about Tennessee’s lethal injection procedure following the botched Carruthers execution. Lee issued a statement saying he had reviewed the case thoroughly and would not intervene. The execution went forward as scheduled on August 13, 2026, with Hines accompanied in the death chamber by his spiritual advisor, Diana Gallagher.
Age
Hines was 66 years old at the time of his execution, based on multiple news reports published the day of and after his death.
Hometown / State of Origin
Court documents and case summaries describe Hines as having traveled from Raleigh, North Carolina, just before the 1985 crime, suggesting ties to that area, though a confirmed hometown or place of birth was not established in the sources reviewed for this article.
🕊️ About the victim: Catherine Jean Jenkins was 54 years old, working as a motel maid to support her family. Her daughter has described her as a devoted mother, wife, homemaker, and woman of faith. She left behind a husband and four children.
Case Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| March 3, 1985 | Catherine Jean Jenkins is sexually assaulted and murdered at the CeBon Motel in Kingston Springs, Tennessee |
| 1986 | Cheatham County jury convicts Hines of first-degree felony murder; he is sentenced to death |
| 1989 | Second sentencing hearing after an appeal; jury again returns a death sentence |
| 1995 | Tennessee Supreme Court affirms the second death sentence |
| 2020 | U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals orders a new trial, citing ineffective counsel |
| 2021 | U.S. Supreme Court reverses the Sixth Circuit in Mays v. Hines, reinstating the death sentence |
| May 2026 | Tennessee’s attempted execution of Tony Carruthers is called off after IV access issues |
| August 13, 2026 | Hines is executed by lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution |
⚠️ Note: Several details commonly repeated on true-crime and case-summary websites, including Hines’s exact birthdate and hometown, are not confirmed by court records or major news coverage. This article flags those as unconfirmed rather than stating them as settled fact.
Reader Questions (FAQ)
Who was Anthony Darrell Hines?
Anthony Darrell Hines was a Tennessee man convicted of the 1985 murder of motel maid Catherine Jean Jenkins. He spent about 40 years on death row before being executed on August 13, 2026.
What crime did Anthony Darrell Hines commit?
Hines was convicted of sexually assaulting and fatally stabbing Catherine Jean Jenkins, a 54-year-old motel maid, at the CeBon Motel in Kingston Springs, Tennessee, on March 3, 1985.
When was Anthony Darrell Hines executed?
He was executed by lethal injection on the morning of August 13, 2026, at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. He was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m.
Why did it take 40 years to execute Hines?
His case went through an initial trial, a resentencing hearing, and decades of state and federal appeals, including a reversal by the U.S. Sixth Circuit in 2020 that was itself overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2021. That lengthy appeals process is typical in death penalty cases and is what stretched the case out over four decades.
Did Anthony Darrell Hines maintain his innocence?
Yes, Hines maintained his innocence up to his execution and argued that his original trial attorneys failed to properly investigate an alternate suspect. Courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, ultimately found the evidence against him was strong enough that this argument did not change the outcome.
Who was the victim, Catherine Jean Jenkins?
Catherine Jean Jenkins was a 54-year-old motel maid working at the CeBon Motel in Kingston Springs when she was killed. Her family describes her as a devoted mother, wife, and homemaker who left behind a husband and four children.
Was there a problem with the execution itself?
No confirmed problems with the lethal injection process were reported for Hines’s execution. It started about 30 minutes later than scheduled, following heightened concerns after Tennessee’s botched attempt to execute Tony Carruthers in May 2026.
Wrap-Up
The search interest around “Anthony Darrell Hines Wikipedia” reflects a case that dragged on for four decades and touched nearly every level of the American court system, from a county courtroom in Cheatham County, Tennessee, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The legal back-and-forth, especially the 2020 Sixth Circuit reversal and its 2021 Supreme Court reversal, is a rare example of a capital case flipping twice at the federal level before ending in an execution.
It’s worth remembering that behind the legal history is Catherine Jean Jenkins, a woman who went to work on an ordinary March morning in 1985 and did not come home. Her family waited 41 years for the case to reach its conclusion, and their statements after the execution reflect that long wait far more than any detail about Hines himself.
Tennessee’s execution process is also facing renewed scrutiny heading into further scheduled executions this year, following the difficulties in the Carruthers case in May 2026. That broader story, about how the state handles lethal injection, is likely to keep generating search interest independent of any single case.
John Wood is the founder and lead editor of Biography Region. He researches and writes accurate, engaging biographies of celebrities, entrepreneurs, influencers, and public figures, delivering well-sourced, reader-focused content that informs and inspires.