Tennessee seeks to block Christa Pike’s attorneys from inspecting drug used in failed execution

Tennessee is seeking to block Christa Pike’s attorneys from accessing the lethal injection drug used in her failed execution on the grounds that it would reveal the supplier in violation of state law, court filings show.

The request follows a judge’s order to preserve evidence in a lawsuit filed by Pike’s attorneys and reflects the secrecy surrounding execution drugs, which states often argue is necessary to protect access to the drugs and the safety of suppliers.

Pike, 50, survived two doses of pentobarbital in September, which her attorneys say probably did not enter her bloodstream correctly and instead pooled in her arms, leaving them burned and blistered. The state has said it is complying with a broader order by Judge I’Ashea L. Myles requiring the preservation of evidence.

But in a Friday court filing, the state asked the judge to rescind the part of her order allowing Pike’s legal team to inspect, collect and test any leftover pentobarbital from the execution attempt.

Tennessee Department of Correction fears it will lose its lethal drug supplier

In an affidavit cited in the state’s filing, a Tennessee Department of Correction employee said the drug supplier would become identifiable if Pike’s legal team is allowed to handle vials of pentobarbital left over from the execution attempt, or review the vials’ labeling. The employee, whose name was not disclosed, wrote that residue of the pentobarbital used in Pike’s botched execution is “most likely to be found” in vials of the substance used in the attempted execution.

The employee stated the state’s supplier was concerned that even with redactions on the labels, the source of the pentobarbital would be identifiable. The employee said that another supplier had stopped communicating with the department in 2024 after its identity was exposed and that the state would likely be unable to find other providers if it lost access to its current source for the drug.

“Pike’s counsel and experts cannot be allowed to see, handle, or otherwise get the information on the leftover vials of pentobarbital from Pike’s attempted execution,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti wrote in a court filing.

Tennessee law prohibits the public disclosure of any individual or entity involved in procuring lethal substances or carrying out executions.

Pike’s attorney says accessing the lethal drug is key

Luke Ihnen, a lawyer representing Pike, said that publicly identifying the state’s lethal injection drug supplier “has never been the goal” of the litigation.

He said that it is important for Pike’s legal team to be able to review how the pentobarbital used in her botched execution was labeled and stored to understand if there were issues 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 types of things are all valuable pieces of information about what went wrong.”

Tennessee Department of Correction spokesperson Dorinda Carter declined to comment, citing pending litigation.

Governor-elect calls for alternative methods of execution

Pike was hospitalized on a ventilator for days following the failed execution. She has returned to prison and said she remains in constant pain.

Pike and her boyfriend tortured and stabbed a 19-year-old classmate, Colleen Slemmer, to death in 1995. Pike was 18 at the time, making her one of the youngest women sentenced to death. Slemmer’s mother had traveled from Florida to witness Pike’s execution.

Frank Strada, commissioner of the Department of Correction, announced his resignation in the wake of Pike’s failed execution. The governor named Christopher Hansen as interim commissioner.

Pike’s attorneys want Republican Gov. Bill Lee, who is set to leave office in January, to change her death sentence to life in prison. He has said that she will remain on death row unless a court determines otherwise. U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the state’s Republican governor-elect, has called for the state to explore alternative methods of execution, including the electric chair.

The governor has tapped a former U.S. attorney to conduct an independent review of the failed execution, and postponed the state’s other lethal injection scheduled for this year.

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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 report on undercovered issues