NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Tennessee death row inmates are asking a Davidson County court to require the state's Department of Correction to reveal its sources for the drugs used for lethal injection.
Oscar Franklin Smith is scheduled for execution on May 22. The default method is lethal injection. That execution method is the state’s preferred means. Gov. Bill Lee rejected a clemency filing by Smith's attorneys.
In early April, Smith and death row inmate Byron Black asked Gov. Bill Lee for a reprieve on death row executions because of the state's lethal injection method. They asked the governor to halt executions until March 1, 2026, when a trial on the constitutionality of Tennessee's new execution protocol is scheduled.
No commercial manufacturer of pentobarbital will sell its product to departments of correction for use in executions, according to the court filing by death row inmates' attorney Kelley Henry.
"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," Henry wrote in her motion. "This means that the pentobarbital Tennessee has acquired was obtained on the gray market. Gray market drugs are inherently risky. Sagent Pharmaceuticals warns that if their 'products are diverted from legitimate channels, in violation of distribution controls, they risk being counterfeit, stolen, contaminated, or otherwise harmful.'"
In addition to Smith and Black, two other people are now set for execution in 2025 after years of Tennessee pausing its execution process for death penalty cases.
These are the first four dates the court has set since the pause during the pandemic and following the independent investigation that found the Tennessee Department of Correction wasn't following its rulebook on carrying out executions, using chemicals that weren't properly tested for contaminants that can cause surprise side effects if injected.
It's not clear what the chancery judge will rule or when.
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