Tennessee prison officials are urging a judge to conceal the identities of the companies supplying lethal-injection drugs, warning that those vendors could face threats and retaliation following Christa Pike’s failed execution, according to newly filed court records.
Pike, 50, became the first death-row prisoner to survive a lethal injection after receiving two doses of pentobarbital, a short-acting barbiturate, during the Sept. 30 execution attempt at a Nashville prison. The procedure reportedly involved at least 10 needles.
Since the botched execution, the drug suppliers have stopped cooperating, a Tennessee Department of Corrections employee said in a declaration filed Friday in Davidson County Chancery Court.
“Suppliers have stated that they are concerned about threats, harassment, and boycotts because of their lawful decision to supply state correctional departments with drugs used to carry out lawful executions,” wrote the unidentified employee, whose duties include obtaining pentobarbital.
The request followed Chancellor I’Ashea Myles’ Oct. 10 order directing state officials to preserve all physical evidence from Pike’s failed execution, including drug vials, needles and any “residual pentobarbital,” court records obtained by The Post show.
Officials argued that even a small label appearing on one of the preserved items could reveal the state’s connection to its pentobarbital supplier. The vendors have “made it clear” they would stop working with TDOC if their identities became public, the employee claimed.
Such a move could bring Tennessee’s use of capital punishment to a standstill, the official warned.
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“If counsel or experts for Plaintiffs [Pike] are allowed to view the labels on any vials of pentobarbital or handle the vials, TDOC would likely lose access to pentobarbital and thus be unable to carry out executions using it.
“And in my experience, if that were to happen, it is unlikely Tennessee would be in a position to find another supplier willing to provide pentobarbital for carrying out executions,” the employee wrote.
Myles had not ruled on the motion as of Monday.
The chancellor’s order preserving the evidence represented a victory for Pike’s attorneys. They argued during a hearing last month that the information could be “relevant for any future challenge she makes” to the state.
Pike, who was poised to become Tennessee’s first female execution in more than two centuries, spent several days hospitalized after the failed procedure. She was transferred to the infirmary at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center on Oct. 9.
Attorneys for TDOC said she still requires “round-the-clock care” in a response to a separate federal lawsuit filed by Pike’s legal team. That case seeks her removal from the medical unit and a return to a specialized, lower-security housing unit with other prisoners.
That lawsuit also remained unresolved as of Monday.
