Death row inmate’s attorneys press for execution pause until Indiana provides drug quality records

Jeffrey Weisheit’s attorneys are asking Gov. Mike Braun to stop Thursday’s execution until Indiana provides evidence that the drugs it plans to inject are potent, pure and properly stored.

The lawyers submitted additional materials Tuesday, a day after Braun denied Weisheit’s request to commute his death sentence to life without parole. Their separate request for a temporary reprieve and an independent review of Indiana’s execution procedures is still pending.

Weisheit was sentenced to death for murdering 8-year-old Alyssa Lynch and her 5-year-old brother, Caleb, in a 2010 house fire near Evansville. His execution remains scheduled before sunrise Nov. 5 at Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.

The supplemental filing focuses on what the state has disclosed about the latest round of pentobarbital purchased for $275,000. The Department of Correction confirmed Monday that it has the drugs, and an inventory log released to the Indiana Capital Chronicle that afternoon records the receipt of six 50-milliliter vials on Oct. 29.

But the log does not include testing results, expiration dates or temperature readings. Weisheit’s attorneys emphasized that Indiana has not supplied documentation verifying the drugs’ potency, purity and stability, or records showing storage temperatures for the new supply.

The Capital Chronicle previously obtained DOC temperature logs through public records requests, showing readings outside the recommended storage range.

“Indiana is singular in its apparent failure to conduct any testing to ensure the potency, purity, and stability of its execution drugs. This willfully disregards rudimentary practices,” attorney Joe Perkovich said in a news release.

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DOC did not address the Capital Chronicle’s questions about whether any efficacy testing has been carried out.

Weisheit’s attorneys pointed to disclosures in other states. A 2017 Arizona settlement requires officials, upon request, to provide an analysis identifying execution chemicals and their concentrations within 10 days after seeking an execution warrant. A March 2025 affidavit from South Carolina’s corrections director described laboratory testing of pentobarbital before a scheduled execution.

Tuesday’s filing also raises questions about Pharmaneek Inc., the Indianapolis pharmacy identified as Indiana’s execution drug supplier. The pharmacy is on probation and faces a Nov. 9 hearing over alleged violations of compounding restrictions. The board has not ordered its suspension in that proceeding.

DOC and the Indiana attorney general’s office defended the state’s preparations Monday but declined to discuss supplier information, citing state confidentiality law.

A reprieve would postpone the execution without commuting his death sentence.