Tennessee officials are asking a judge to keep the state’s lethal-injection drug supplier confidential. They say the supplier may cut ties with the state if its identity becomes public, potentially making it difficult to carry out future executions.
The request follows the failed execution of Christa Pike, who was scheduled to die on Sept. 30 after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a last-minute stay. Pike was convicted of killing her 19-year-old classmate, Colleen Slemmer, in Knoxville. She would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years, but survived after two doses of pentobarbital failed to kill her.
In a court filing Friday, a Tennessee Department of Correction employee responsible for obtaining the state’s execution drug said suppliers are increasingly wary of providing it. The employee said vendors fear threats, harassment and boycotts for supplying drugs used in lawful executions.
The filing responds to an Oct. 10 order from Davidson County Chancellor I’Ashea Myles directing the state to preserve physical evidence from the execution attempt, including needles, vials and any remaining pentobarbital.
One of the items could have a label revealing the supplier’s identity, the employee warned. The vendor has made clear it would stop working with Tennessee if identified, the filing said.
Without the supplier, executions in the state could be suspended, the employee wrote. Finding another company willing to provide pentobarbital would be unlikely, the filing added. Allowing Pike’s lawyers or their experts to see vial labels or handle the vials could also jeopardize the state’s access to the drug.
Myles has not ruled on the request.
Separately, a late-October filing in federal court asked that Pike not be returned to her prison housing unit, arguing that her safety could be at risk. The motion described the unit as housing people with serious histories of assault and disciplinary problems, and cited incidents involving assaults, psychological crises and dangerous conditions.
The Tennessee Department of Correction declined to comment.
