Hours before Indiana is set to carry out its first execution of the year, scheduled before sunrise Thursday, attorneys and supporters of the condemned man rallied to spare his life after new details were revealed about the state’s secret process for obtaining lethal injection drugs.
Lawyers for Jeffrey Weisheit, 50, called on Indiana Gov. Mike Braun to halt his execution by lethal injection and order an independent review of the state’s procedures following allegations that the state obtained his chemicals from a pharmacy currently on probation and facing suspension of its license.
“Laid bare, the conduct apparent here is manifestly unworthy of the public’s trust in the solemn exercise of state power in taking the life of a human being in the name of the people,” Joe Perkovich, Weisheit’s attorney, said in a statement Wednesday.
Weisheit, who was convicted of killing two young children in a 2010 house fire, did not contest his guilt but asked Braun for clemency so that his sentence could be commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Her lawyers cite the failed lethal injection execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee on Sept. 30 in her new request for a stay from the governor, saying Indiana’s protocol is “more susceptible to catastrophic failures like the one that put Ms. Pike in a coma,” and that the pharmacy listed on a state Department of Correction bill has a history of “widespread mismanagement of medications.”
An updated inventory log provided to NBC News shows the Department of Correction added six vials of the deadly drug pentobarbital to the prison’s supply on October 29. An invoice included in the stay request indicates the state paid $275,000 for those vials — far more than the usual price of $15,120 to $16,250 for commercially manufactured injectable pentobarbital. The invoice is heavily worded and does not show the date or supplier of the transaction.
Indiana law protects the identities of participants, pharmacies and suppliers involved in executions. However, a September 2025 invoice for the same amount that corresponds to the last time the state added vials of pentobarbital to its supply accidentally revealed the drug’s possible supplier, according to documents included in Weisheit’s stay request.
The exhibits were produced by the Department of Corrections in response to a records request related to Weisheit’s execution date.
An address retrievable under black writing corresponds to the address of Pharmaneek, a pharmacy based in Indianapolis.
Pharmaneek is scheduled to appear before the Indiana Board of Pharmacy on Monday – four days after Weisheit’s scheduled execution – on allegations that the pharmacy violated his probation after failing inspections by the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency and the Food and Drug Administration.
Inspections found that Pharmaneek stored medications in unlabeled bottles, found expired medication bottles “during a random inspection of active pharmacy shelves,” and failed to maintain consistent temperature records for pharmacy storage areas. In a settlement agreement with the state, Pharmaneek said some inspection issues were due to renovation work.
According to a March 2026 FDA inspection report, “the facility is not maintained in good repair, which creates unsanitary conditions in which pharmaceutical products may become contaminated with dirt.”
The FDA report states that its findings do not represent a final determination of compliance by the agency.
Indiana licensing records for Pharmaneek that match the details listed on the Department of Correction invoice show the pharmacy’s license and controlled substance registration are on probation.
According to a Sept. 24 legal filing, the Indiana Board of Pharmacy, which investigates complaints and can impose sanctions, ordered Pharmaneek to appear before its members on Oct. 5 to “demonstrate” why his pharmacy license “should not be urgently suspended or subject to the imposition of additional sanctions.”
A motion from Pharmaneek’s legal counsel included in the stay request shows that a lawyer for the pharmacy requested that the appearance be postponed until Monday.
Pharmaneek did not respond to multiple requests for comment from NBC News this week by telephone. The Indiana Department of Corrections also did not respond to requests for comment or interview.
The governor’s office declined to comment Wednesday on allegations that the Department of Correction obtained execution drugs from a probation pharmacy.
While Pharmaneek is currently prohibited from mixing custom medications — a process known as compounding — Weisheit’s request for a stay alleges that the pharmacy acts as a middleman for the Department of Correction, supplying it with manufactured pentobarbital that the department is not allowed to purchase directly from traditional drug manufacturers.
In court filings ahead of Roy Lee Ward’s execution in October 2025, the state said the pentobarbital it planned to use was produced by a pharmaceutical company instead of a compounding pharmacy, and distributed “without any post-manufacturing customization.”
Big pharmaceutical companies have explicitly warned states not to use their drugs for executions and have sued states to get their chemicals returned.
Sagent Pharmaceuticals, one of two pharmaceutical companies that manufacture pentobarbital in the United States, did not respond to emailed questions about whether it had a relationship with Pharmaneek; however, the company’s policies do not allow its distributors or wholesalers to sell its products to prisons for use in lethal injections. The other, drugmaker Hikma, said the company did not have a purchasing agreement with Pharmaneek.
“We have strict bans and controls intended to prevent the use of our drugs in capital punishment,” said Steven Weiss, a Hikma representative.
A spokesperson for Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita told NBC News the office was “confident in its ability to safely and legally carry out the planned execution.” They added that Weisheit’s attorneys “publicly identified a pharmacy they believe is linked to Indiana’s supply of execution drugs, despite state law requiring supplier information to remain confidential.”
Weisheit has been on death row for 13 years after a Vanderburgh County jury convicted him of killing Alyssa Lynch, 8, and her brother Caleb, 5, the children of his then-girlfriend, Lisa Lynch. She was at work while Weisheit watched the children in their Evansville home.
Prosecutors said Weisheit bound and gagged Caleb, then placed flares in his clothes and near his body before setting the house on fire and fleeing out of state. Alyssa’s body was found in a closet. The children died of smoke inhalation.
Weisheit appealed his conviction, notably on the grounds of the ineffectiveness of his lawyer, but his decision was refused.
Last month, Weisheit appeared at a clemency hearing before the state parole board, during which his mental illness and other health issues were discussed. He couldn’t explain why he killed the Lynch children.
“There is no excuse or explanation for what I did,” Weisheit said.
Lisa Lynch asked the board to uphold her death sentence and focus on her children.
“Every birthday, every holiday, every milestone moment is marked by their agonizing absence,” she said. “Time passes, but the weight of losing them never goes away. »
The children’s father, Steven Lynch, told the board he supported leniency and had forgiven Weisheit for his actions. The board ultimately recommended Braun deny the pardon, which he agreed Monday not to grant.
Lisa Lynch could not be reached for comment ahead of Weisheit’s scheduled execution. Steven Lynch told NBC News he still hopes Weisheit can show mercy and said he thinks of the convicted killer’s own family as they prepare for limited loss like the one he experienced when his own children were murdered.
“No parent should have to outlive their child,” Steven Lynch said, adding that “mercy is extended to even the smallest among us.”
Weisheit’s execution is one of three planned for Thursday, with the others planned by lethal injection in Alabama and Florida.
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