Tennessee death row inmates accuse state of obtaining lethal injection drug from ‘gray market'
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — With Tennessee's first execution in years set to take place in a little over one week, some death row inmates are pushing the state to reveal its supplier of the lethal injection drug, pentobarbital.
The state will use the single drug, pentobarbital, in its new death penalty protocol that was completed in December 2024.
Federal public defenders for some Tennessee death row inmates have called the new protocol unconstitutional and 'too obviously untenable to stand,' the suit said.
TN death row inmates want firing squad over lethal injection ahead of state's first execution in years
In their latest filing, death row inmates have asked a judge not to allow the state to keep its supplier of pentobarbital a secret. They accused the state of purchasing the drug from an unauthorized source off the 'gray market,' since every manufacturer of the drug has protections in place to ensure it is not used in executions.
'Every manufacturer of pentobarbital has put in place strict distribution controls to prevent its drugs from being sold to departments of correction for use in executions,' the court filing reads. 'This means that the pentobarbital Tennessee has acquired was obtained on the gray market. Gray market drugs are inherently risky.'
'There has already been fraud and misrepresentation in the acquiring of the drug, and that is of grave concern to our clients, because once we're buying drugs from people who are not authorized to sell it, that introduces the possibility of so many ways things can go wrong,' said Amy Harwell, assistant chief of the Capital Habeas Unit for the Federal Public Defender's Office.
The state has argued it has a right to keep its source a secret, claiming it is protecting the drug manufacturers' First Amendment rights.
However, the inmates believe they have a right to know the state's supplier to ensure the drug, which the U.S. Dept of Justice recently abandoned over concerns it could cause unnecessary pain and suffering, hasn't been compromised.
'When a drug has come from the gray market, when we don't know what the drug dealers have done to that drug, how they've cut it, how they might have diluted it, and those are the protections that have been erased from the protocol, the checking of the drugs,' Harwell said.
The inmates and their attorneys have asked Gov. Bill Lee to pause executions until the case can go to trial, which is scheduled for January 2026. Two inmates are set to be executed between now and then.
Gov. Lee has previously said he has no intention of pausing executions and is confident in the TN Dept. of Correction's new protocol.
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News 2 reached out to TDOC for a statement on the lawsuit, but had not heard back by the time this article was published.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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