Indiana plans to proceed with execution after botched Tennessee attempt

Indiana prison officials plan to proceed with Jeffrey Weisheit’s Nov. 5 execution after a botched lethal injection in Tennessee prompted that state’s governor to halt executions and order an independent review.

The Indiana Department of Correction said Thursday that it remains confident in its procedures despite using the same protocol as Tennessee. Agency officials offered no additional details about the training of those administering lethal injections, the role of medical personnel or safeguards for execution drugs.

Indiana has used pentobarbital in its three executions since resuming capital punishment in December 2024. Tennessee used the same drug Wednesday in its attempt to execute Christa Pike, whose attorneys said she remained alive after two rounds of the drug and was receiving lifesaving medical care Thursday.

“The Indiana Department of Correction is confident in its ability to carry out executions as ordered by the court and in accordance with established policies and procedures,” the agency said in a statement provided by spokesperson Noelle Russell. “For security and operational reasons, the department does not discuss specific details regarding the administration of its execution protocol.”

Russell confirmed that DOC plans to move forward with Weisheit’s execution and said the agency had no further comment.

Gov. Mike Braun’s office did not respond to questions about whether he would pause executions or seek a review of Indiana’s procedures.

Five men, including Weisheit, remain on Indiana’s death row, but only four are currently considered competent for execution.

Joe Perkovich, an attorney for Weisheit, said Indiana’s secrecy leaves his legal team unable to scrutinize the drugs the state plans to use or the qualifications of those obtaining and administering them.

“We have a lot of concerns,” Perkovich said. “The opacity of this regime, in terms of the Indiana protocol, is staggering compared to others.”

He said Tennessee’s botched attempt heightened those concerns, especially as Indiana asks the defense to trust its preparations without disclosing details until the last minute.

The Tennessee failure comes more than a year after attorneys who witnessed Benjamin Ritchie’s execution in Indiana reported seeing his head and shoulders suddenly lift from the gurney after pentobarbital was administered. Defense attorneys also raised concerns about whether fluctuating storage temperatures could have affected the drugs for Ritchie. DOC disputed the description of Ritchie’s execution, however, and maintained that it followed protocol.

Information previously obtained by the Capital Chronicle outline DOC’s requirements for IV training, physician involvement and monitoring during executions. But medical experts say evaluating Indiana’s execution process requires knowing how those safeguards are implemented, along with the quality and handling of the drugs themselves.

“When a mishap occurs during an execution, it is important to evaluate the entire process to understand what went wrong and identify measures to prevent similar problems in the future, as multiple factors may have contributed,” said Michaela Almgren, a University of South Carolina pharmacy professor. “From a pharmaceutical quality perspective, several safeguards are important.”

An hour of IV attempts

Pike’s attorney Randy Spivey said during a Thursday news conference that Tennessee’s execution team spent about an hour trying to establish IV access. He counted at least seven needles used in her left arm alone, he said.

“Last night was not just inefficient; it was cruel and it was torturous,” Spivey said. “It was also predictable.”

He described seeing Pike’s right arm turn purple, particularly after the second round of drugs. But when asked whether the pentobarbital had entered her bloodstream, he said that remained unknown.

“I think we’re going to have to wait on some of the doctors before we know that for sure,” he said.

Spivey said closed curtains prevented him from seeing what happened during part of the process, including when lifesaving treatment began. He also described difficulty reaching a telephone to alert other members of Pike’s legal team.

Her attorneys said Thursday afternoon that she was in critical condition. They had not seen her in the hospital or had direct contact with her, they said, and called on Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to commute her sentence.

Tennessee corrections officials maintained that they followed the state’s execution protocol. Lee ordered an outside investigation and halted the state’s remaining execution scheduled this year — Gary Wayne Sutton’s Dec. 3 execution.

Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville.

Training and medical oversight

Dr. Jonathan Groner, an emeritus clinical professor of surgery at Ohio State University who has studied executions, said the available accounts led him to suspect an IV-delivery problem in Tennessee. He cautioned that it’s still too early to rule out a problem with the drug, though.

Placing an IV requires practical experience, he said. Rehearsing on healthy volunteers may not prepare someone for difficult access in a person with anxiety or underlying health conditions.

Successfully placing an IV also does not guarantee it will continue functioning throughout an injection, he said. Staff must recognize problems as they develop.

Groner said anyone administering pentobarbital should “pay close attention to the injection site,” and that a medical practitioner would watch closely rather than administer the drug from a distance.

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One concern is extravasation, which occurs when a drug escapes the vein into surrounding tissue. Pentobarbital’s prescribing information warns that this can cause tissue damage and necrosis, or tissue death.

Dr. Joel Zivot, an Emory University anesthesiologist and intensive care physician, said reported injuries around Pike’s IV site were consistent with the drug entering tissue outside a vein. But he said problems with the drug’s quality could also have contributed.

Zivot, who opposes lethal injection, said pentobarbital’s alkaline formulation can injure tissue, and that a state needs the ability to provide emergency medical treatment when an execution goes wrong. But a physician’s presence alone does not guarantee that the necessary equipment, medicines or expertise are available, he said.

“What tool do they have? What medicines do they have?” Zivot asked. “You know, what skills does that doctor have?”

Indiana’s execution protocol requires execution team training at least quarterly. That includes practical IV training with regional emergency medical services oversight, equipment to help locate veins and practice inside the execution chamber.

During court proceedings in 2025, former Indiana State Prison Warden Ron Neal described more frequent training as an execution approached. After Ritchie’s death warrant was issued, the team practiced weekly, including inserting IVs into live volunteers.

The written protocol requires a medical evaluation of the condemned person, including venous access, about 30 days before an execution and weekly vein assessments afterward.

Indiana high court orders Jeffrey Weisheit executed Nov. 5

It also assigns a physician responsibilities beyond pronouncing death.

The warden must select a physician to be present at the prison. The physician observes IV placement and supervises attempts to use another body site if staff cannot find a suitable arm vein. If peripheral IV access cannot be established, the protocol directs the physician to provide central venous access or another means of access.

Staff must also consult a licensed physician about preparing and administering the drugs.

The document does not clearly require the physician to remain inside the execution chamber throughout drug administration. Instead, it identifies a separate physician’s room and describes the physician moving from a holding area to examine the condemned person and pronounce death.

The protocol calls for surveillance for infiltration and constant monitoring of IV lines for leaks or stoppage. If a problem occurs, the injection team is directed to switch to the alternate line, with the warden’s approval before proceeding.

Its single-drug procedure also provides for two backup sets of pentobarbital syringes to be administered if the person continues showing signs of life after the preceding set.

DOC did not answer questions Thursday about the personnel who would perform those duties for Weisheit or whether the previously released protocol has changed.

Groner said physician involvement also presents an ethical conflict: the clinical skills needed to recognize and address complications belong to a profession whose ethical standards prohibit participation in executions.

Zivot has argued that execution protocols need a defined point at which officials stop trying to cause death and begin emergency treatment.

In a September 2025 commentary published by JURIST, he proposed requiring resuscitation if a person has not died within five minutes after an execution begins.

Even a doctor can do little without emergency equipment, Zivot said, describing his options if someone collapsed on the street.

“I can do chest compressions,” he said Thursday. “That’s about it.”

Questions about the drugs

Almgren said pharmaceutical safeguards should include testing, documentation of the drug’s source and movement, and records of its storage conditions.

“Lethal-injection drugs should be tested using appropriate pharmaceutical testing methodologies to confirm potency and quality, and expired drugs should not be used,” she told the Capital Chronicle. “Because pentobarbital is a controlled substance, there should also be thorough chain-of-custody documentation showing the drug’s origin and movement from manufacturing or compounding through final administration.”

Storage conditions should be monitored and documented, too, she said.

Almgren provided an affidavit concerning Indiana’s pentobarbital supply in litigation ahead of Roy Lee Ward’s execution last year. She said secrecy laws impede independent scrutiny.

“Unfortunately, death penalty secrecy or ‘shield’ laws in many states limit outside experts’ ability to review documentation concerning the source, quality, testing, and storage of these drugs,” she said. “Without meaningful independent oversight, it becomes much more difficult to determine whether appropriate pharmaceutical-quality safeguards are being followed.”

Indiana protects the identities of execution-drug suppliers. In court filings before Ward’s execution, DOC said the pentobarbital it intended to use was manufactured, rather than compounded.

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State officials told the Capital Chronicle on Thursday that DOC had no execution drugs in its inventory and had not yet acquired drugs for Weisheit’s execution.

A DOC inventory log released by the governor’s office earlier this year showed no vials remaining after Ward’s October 2025 execution. The records documented purchases, use and disposal of pentobarbital and brought Indiana’s spending on the drug since 2024 to at least $1.275 million.

The Capital Chronicle was the only media outlet to witness Joseph Corcoran’s execution in December 2024 but was not permitted to witness Ritchie’s or Ward’s. Indiana does not guarantee independent media access. Journalists may attend if selected by the condemned person to fill one of five witness positions.

The federal government has also issued conflicting assessments of pentobarbital.

In January 2025, under former President Joe Biden, then-U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland rescinded the federal pentobarbital protocol after a review raised uncertainty about unnecessary pain and suffering.

But after President Donald Trump returned to office, an April 2026 Justice Department report rejected that review’s legal and scientific conclusions and recommended readopting the protocol. It argued that pentobarbital rapidly renders a person unconscious, preventing suffering associated with pulmonary edema, a buildup of fluid in the lungs.

Weisheit seeking clemency

Weisheit was sentenced to death in 2013 for killing his girlfriend’s children, 8-year-old Alyssa Lynch and 5-year-old Caleb Lynch, in a fire at their Evansville home in 2010. He was also convicted of arson.

The Indiana Supreme Court ordered his execution before sunrise Nov. 5 at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.

His attorneys previously raised concerns about the state’s ability to obtain execution drugs. In setting the date, the justices said those issues were outside the scope of that proceeding and could be pursued through other legal avenues.

Weisheit is also seeking clemency, arguing that evidence of brain injuries, mental impairments and childhood trauma was not adequately presented during his court proceedings.

The Indiana Parole Board is scheduled to meet with him at the prison Oct. 16 and hear public testimony in Indianapolis Oct. 19. It will make a recommendation to Braun, who has the final say.

Braun denied clemency to Ritchie and Ward before their executions last year. Weisheit’s would be Indiana’s fourth execution since the state ended a 15-year pause.

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