Tennessee is seeking to block
from accessing the lethal injection drug used in her on the grounds that it would reveal the supplier in violation of state law, court filings show.
asserted
filings → seek → law
The request follows a judge's order to preserve evidence in a lawsuit filed by Pike's attorneys and reflects the secrecy surrounding execution drugs, which states often argue is necessary to protect access to the drugs and the safety of suppliers.
asserted
states → follow → suppliers
Pike, 50,
two doses of pentobarbital in September, which her attorneys say probably did not enter her bloodstream correctly and instead pooled in her arms, leaving them burned and blistered.
asserted
attorneys → say → them
The state has said it is complying with a broader order by Judge I'Ashea L. Myles of evidence.
asserted
it → say → evidence
But in a Friday court filing, the state asked the judge to rescind the part of her order allowing Pike's legal team to inspect, collect and test any leftover pentobarbital from the execution attempt.
asserted
team → ask → attempt
Tennessee Department of Correction fears it will lose its lethal drug supplier
asserted
it → fear → supplier
In an affidavit cited in the state's filing, a Tennessee Department of Correction employee said the drug supplier would become identifiable if Pike's legal team is allowed to handle vials of pentobarbital left over from the execution attempt, or review the vials' labeling.
asserted
team → cite → labeling
The employee, whose name was not disclosed, wrote that residue of the pentobarbital used in Pike's botched execution is "most likely to be found" in vials of the substance used in the attempted execution.
asserted
residue → disclose → execution
The employee stated the state's supplier was concerned that even with redactions on the labels, the source of the pentobarbital would be identifiable.
asserted
source → state → pentobarbital
The employee said that another supplier had stopped communicating with the department in 2024 after its identity was exposed and that the state would likely be unable to find other providers if it lost access to its current source for the drug.
asserted
it → say → drug
"Pike's counsel and experts cannot be allowed to see, handle, or otherwise get the information on the leftover vials of pentobarbital from Pike's attempted execution," Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti wrote in a court filing.
asserted
Skrmetti → allow → filing
Tennessee law prohibits the public disclosure of any individual or entity involved in procuring lethal substances or carrying out executions.
asserted
law → prohibit → executions
In a court filing last month, Pike's attorneys said her veins may have ruptured before she was injected with pentobarbital.
uncertain
she → say → pentobarbital
The execution team used about 10 needles and tried several IV sites on both arms, her lawyers said in the filing.
asserted
lawyers → use → filing
Pike's attorney says accessing the lethal drug is key
Luke Ihnen, a lawyer representing Pike, said that publicly identifying the state's lethal injection drug supplier "has never been the goal" of the litigation.
He said that it is important for Pike's legal team to be able to review how the pentobarbital used in her botched execution was labeled and stored to understand if there were issues with how it was mixed, transported or handled, and whether it was expired.
asserted
it → say → execution
"We still don't know exactly what happened that night," Ihnen said.
asserted
Ihnen → know → ?
"Those types of things are all valuable pieces of information about what went wrong."
asserted
what → go → information
Tennessee Department of Correction spokesperson Dorinda Carter declined to comment, citing pending litigation.
Governor-elect calls for alternative methods of execution
Pike was
She has returned to prison and said she remains in constant pain.
asserted
she → decline → pain
In
exactly one month after surviving the botched execution, Pike said she had entered the execution chamber having said her goodbyes and "had not contemplated life beyond that night.
asserted
she → survive → night
""Several days later I woke up alone in a hospital confused and in pain," she said in a statement dictated to her lawyers.
asserted
she → wake → lawyers
My body hurts.
asserted
body → hurt → ?
My arms hurt.
asserted
arms → hurt → ?
My hands hurt.
asserted
hands → hurt → ?
My throat hurts.
asserted
throat → hurt → ?
I still struggle to speak.
asserted
I → struggle → ?
Pike is the only person known to have survived an execution attempt in the U.S., according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
uncertain
Pike → know → Center
Pike and her boyfriend tortured and stabbed a 19-year-old classmate, Colleen Slemmer, to death in 1995.
asserted
Pike → torture → 1995
Pike was 18 at the time, making her one of the youngest women sentenced to death.
asserted
her → make → death
Slemmer's mother had traveled from Florida to witness Pike's execution.
asserted
mother → travel → execution
The governor named Christopher Hansen as interim commissioner.
asserted
governor → name → commissioner
Pike's failed execution has raised questions about Tennessee's lethal injection protocol, marking the state's second execution issue this year.
asserted
execution → fail → issue
In May,
a one-year reprieve after officials spent more than an hour unsuccessfully trying to establish an IV line.
uncertain
officials → spend → line
CBS News
going back to 2007 and found that over the years the protocols grew increasingly vague.
asserted
protocols → go → years
Prior to 2025, the Tennessee lethal injection protocols were laid out in detail over 100 pages and included extensive protocols.
asserted
protocols → lay → protocols
Tennessee paused its executions in 2022 in order to investigate its lethal injection procedure.
asserted
Tennessee → pause → procedure
It resumed them in 2025, carrying out three of them with a new lethal cocktail that consisted of a single drug, pentobarbital, rather than the combination of three it used formerly.
asserted
it → resume → three
Pike's attorneys want Republican Gov. Bill Lee, who is set to leave office in January, to change her death sentence to life in prison.
asserted
who → want → prison
"The least that could happen now is that we at least take death off the table and start looking for what the future could be for her," one of Pike's attorneys, Steve Ferrell, told "CBS Mornings" last month.
uncertain
one → happen → Mornings
He has said that she will remain on death row unless a court determines otherwise.
asserted
court → say → row
U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the state's Republican governor-elect, has called for the state to explore alternative methods of execution, including the electric chair.
asserted
state → call → chair
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
