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Tennessee prison officials are begging a judge to keep their lethal drug suppliers’ identities under wraps – over fears that the vendors will face retaliation for Christa Pike’s bungled execution, newly filed court documents reveal.
Pike, 50, became the first ever death row inmate to survive lethal injection execution after she was given two doses of pentobarbital – a short-acting barbiturate drug – allegedly administered with at least 10 needles inside of a Nashville prison on Sept. 30.
Since then, providers of the deadly chemical have clammed up, a Tennessee Department of Corrections employee claimed in a declaration filed in Davidson County Chancery Court on Friday.
“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 worker, who said said their role requires them to procure pentobarbital.
The desperate plea was filed in response to Chancellor I’Ashea Myles’ Oct. 10 decision ordering state officials to preserve and maintain all physical evidence related to Pike’s botched execution – including drug vials, needles and any “residual pentobarbital,” according to court documents obtained by The Post.
But even a tiny label on one of those materials could unmask the state’s pentobarbital connection – which has “made it clear” that they will cease working with TDOC, should they be identified, the worker claimed.
If that happens, capital punishments could come to a grinding halt in the Volunteer State, the employee warned.
“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 concluded.
Myles had not made a decision regarding the motion as of Monday.
The chancellor’s evidentiary preservation order came as a win for Pike’s legal team, who argued in court last month that such information will be “relevant for any future challenge she makes” against the state.
The convicted murderer, who was set to become the first woman to be executed in Tennessee in over 200 years, spent several days in the hospital before moving to the infirmary at Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center on Oct. 9.
She continues to require “round-the-clock care” today, attorneys for TDOC wrote in response to a separate, federal court case brought by Pike’s lawyers – which seeks to have her removed from the medical ward and released back into a specialized, low-security unit with other prisoners.
That case was also still awaiting judgement as of Monday.
