Tennessee seeks to block Christa Pike’s lawyers from accessing lethal injection drugs used in her home. execution failure on the grounds that doing so would reveal the supplier in violation of state law, according to court documents.
The request follows a judge’s order to preserve evidence in a lawsuit filed by Pike’s lawyers and reflects the secrecy surrounding execution drugswhich states often argue is necessary to protect access to medicines and the safety of providers.
Pike, 50, survived two doses of pentobarbital in September, which his lawyers say likely did not enter his bloodstream properly and accumulated in his arms, leaving them burned and blistered. The state said it was complying with a broader order from Judge I’Ashea L. Myles requiring preservation of evidence.
But in a filing Friday, the state asked the judge to vacate the portion of her order allowing Pike’s legal team to inspect, collect and test any leftover pentobarbital from the attempted execution.
Tennessee Department of Corrections Fears Losing Deadly Drug Supplier
In an affidavit cited in the state filing, a Tennessee Department of Corrections employee said the drug supplier would become identifiable if Pike’s legal team was allowed to handle the remaining pentobarbital vials from the execution attempt, or examine the vials’ labeling. The employee, whose name was not released, wrote that residue from the pentobarbital used in Pike’s botched execution is “most likely found” in the vials of the substance used in the attempted execution.
The employee said the state supplier was concerned that even if it redacted the labels, the source of the pentobarbital would not be identifiable. The employee said another supplier stopped communicating with the department in 2024 after its identity was revealed and that the state would likely be unable to find other suppliers if it lost access to its current source of the drug.
“Pike’s attorneys and experts cannot be permitted to view, handle, or otherwise obtain information about the pentobarbital vials remaining from Pike’s attempted execution,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti wrote in a court filing.
Tennessee law prohibits public disclosure of any person or entity involved in acquiring deadly substances or carrying out executions.
Pike’s lawyer says access to deadly drug is essential
Luke Ihnen, an attorney representing Pike, said publicly identifying the state’s lethal injection drug supplier “was never the goal” of the litigation.
He said it was important that Pike’s legal team was able to examine how the pentobarbital used in his botched execution was labeled and stored to understand whether there were any problems with how it was mixed, transported or handled, and whether it was expired.
“We still don’t know exactly what happened that night,” Ihnen said. “Those kinds of things are all valuable information about what went wrong. »
Tennessee Department of Corrections spokeswoman Dorinda Carter declined to comment, citing pending litigation.
Governor-elect calls for alternative methods of execution
Pike was hospitalized on a ventilator for days after the failed execution. She returned to prison and said she was staying there constant pain.
Pike and her boyfriend tortured and stabbed to death a 19-year-old classmate, Colleen Slemmer, in 1995. Pike was 18 at the time, making her one of the youngest women on death row. Slemmer’s mother had come from Florida to witness Pike’s execution.
Frank Strada, commissioner of the Department of Correction, announced his resignation following the failed execution of Pike. The governor named Christopher Hansen as acting commissioner.
Pike’s lawyers want Republican Gov. Bill Lee, who is due to leave office in January, to replace his death sentence with life in prison. He said she will remain on death row unless a court decides otherwise. U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the state’s Republican governor-elect, called on the state to explore alternative methods of execution, including the electric chair.
The governor tapped a former U.S. attorney to lead an independent investigation into the failed execution and postponed another lethal injection planned for this year in the state.
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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to cover under-reported issues.
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