Tennessee officials are asking a state judge to keep the identity of the supplier of the state’s execution drug confidential, arguing that disclosure could end the vendor relationship and impede future executions. The request concerns evidence preserved after Christa Pike survived a lethal injection attempt in September.
Pike was scheduled to be executed on Sept. 30, after the U.S. Supreme Court vacated a last-minute stay, according to the court filing described in the source material. She was convicted of killing Colleen Slemmer, a 19-year-old classmate, in Knoxville and was sentenced to death. During the execution attempt, two doses of pentobarbital were administered, but Pike did not die. She would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
In a motion filed Friday in Davidson County Chancery Court, an unnamed Tennessee Department of Correction employee responsible for obtaining the drug said suppliers were concerned about threats, harassment and boycotts for providing execution drugs to state correctional departments. The employee said the supplier had indicated it would end its relationship with Tennessee if its identity became known.
The motion responds to an Oct. 10 order by Chancellor I’Ashea Myles directing the state to preserve physical evidence related to the failed execution. The items include needles, drug vials and any remaining pentobarbital. State officials warn that labels on the preserved items could reveal the supplier.
The employee told the court that allowing Pike’s attorneys or their experts to see labels or handle the vials could lead the supplier to withdraw. The filing said Tennessee would probably lose access to pentobarbital in that event and would be unlikely to find another supplier willing to provide it for executions. These statements are the state employee’s assessment, as presented in the motion; the court has not yet decided whether the requested restrictions should be imposed.
The state Department of Correction declined to comment, according to the source material. No ruling by Myles on the supplier-confidentiality request was reported.
The dispute comes amid separate litigation over Pike’s confinement. In late October, a separate request was made in federal court to prevent prison officials from returning her to her housing block, citing safety concerns. The filing described the unit as housing inmates with serious assault and disciplinary histories and recounted alleged assaults involving inmates and guards, as well as episodes of acute psychological distress. The source material does not report a decision on that request.
The two court matters concern different issues: the state-court dispute addresses access to execution evidence and the supplier’s identity, while the separate federal request raises concerns about Pike’s housing. The materials provided do not include a court finding about why the execution drugs failed to kill Pike or a final determination on either request.
