Tennessee Death Row Inmate's filing movement for the execution of pharmaceutical transparency

Nashville, Tenn. (WZTV) – Since Tennessee has been removed from the implementation of his first execution since 2020, the inmates ask a judge from Davidson County to reject the state's attempt, to hide details about its deadly injection protocol, and they call on governor Bill Lee to spend a respect.

In a new court registration, which was submitted on Monday, the inmates argue that the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) tries to potentially illegal practices, including the procurement of execution medication via the “Graumarkt”, a supply chain with high risk outside the legitimate pharmaceutical channels.

Oscar Smith will be executed next Thursday, May 22nd. His lawyers together with others in the death cell claim that the state's secrecy could mask dangerous practices that violate the protection against the constitution against cruel and unusual punishment.

The registration calls on the court to refuse a protection order requested by the state, which would block the disclosure of the disclosure of the pentobarbital care of Tennessee and who is trained to manage it. In the application, lawyers claim that the state incorrectly claimed a “participant support privilege” that does not exist according to Tennessee Law.

“If TDOC bought execution chemicals through legitimate supply chains, there would be no reason to hide behind a veil of confidentiality,” said lawyer Kelley Henry, who represents the prisoners.

The state has admitted in court files that it would like to use the production of pentobarbital to carry out executions. According to the submission, no commercial manufacturer sells this medication to correction departments. This would mean that the medication was obtained by non -authorized sources that raise red flags through their safety, quality and legality.

“Gray Market channels are naturally risky”, in the registration states and refer to a letter from Sagent Pharmaceuticals, who warn that medication that was obtained in this way are more “fake, stolen, contaminated or harmful in other ways”.

Tennessee kept a break in 2022 after an independent review had shown that TDOC did not follow his own procedures. A new fatal injection protocol was approved last year, but it argues that the state cannot be operated again transparently or constitutionally.

Lawyers ask the court to enable limited disclosure such as reduced documents or private reviews so that they can examine the state's execution methods without endangering security.

At the same time, the inmates ask Governor Lee to stop all upcoming executions until their originally submitted case can be heard in court at the beginning of this year. This process is planned for January 12, 2026.

Another inmate, Byron Black, is to be carried out on August 5. If both executions progress as planned, they would take place in front of a court ruling on the constitutionality of the new execution protocol from Tennessee.

The court registration also showed that Tennessee has spent more than 600,000 US dollars for execution medication in recent years, most of which seem to be for pentobarbital.

Governor Lee has not stated whether he will issue a delay in this case as in 2022.

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