Tennessee prison officials are asking a judge not to force them to reveal the supplier of their lethal injection drugs ... TMZ has learned.
An unidentified official from the Tennessee Department of Correction filed a declaration in Christa Pike’s court battle over her botched execution.
The official claims to be responsible for procuring pentobarbital for use in carrying out death sentences. According to the declaration, the state’s supplier has made it clear … if the government reveals who the supplier is ... they will no longer supply it to the state.
Governor Gavin Newsom just commuted the sentences of all 548 prisoners on death row in California in what is one of the largest single-day acts of clemency in U.S. history ... but that doesn't mean they're being freed from prison.
Newsom detailed his decision in an open letter Thursday, writing ... "State-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California's values, undermines the foundations of our legal system and diminishes each of us."
The governor added ... "I know we cannot execute people in our imperfect legal system and remain true to our core values, first among them justice and human decency."
Gavin Newsom is sparing hundreds of inmates from execution in California ... but Los Angeles County's top prosecutor says the governor can't wipe out the death penalty entirely.
In a statement Thursday, District Attorney Nathan Hochman acknowledged Newsom has the constitutional power to commute death sentences ... but stressed, "That power does not extend to eliminating the death penalty."
Hochman pointed out California voters have twice rejected efforts to eliminate the death penalty ... pointing out only voters or the state Legislature can change that law.
A killer has been executed by lethal injection in Indiana ... the first of 3 executions scheduled in the U.S. today.
Jeffrey Weisheit -- who admitted to killing his girlfriend's 2 children in 2010 by setting her house on fire -- died by lethal injection Thursday at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.
Weisheit was injected just after midnight and pronounced dead at 12:45 AM ... according to Indiana Department of Corrections spokesperson Noelle Russell.
Russell said Weisheit’s last meal was barbecue ribs and he did not have any final words.
Dr. Mark Fowler -- who oversaw Christa Pike's botched execution and a previous failed attempt to put another inmate to death -- is speaking out about both controversial procedures.
In a candid interview with Intelligencer ... Fowler said of his work ... "I'm not an evil, vicious person. I'm not unscrupulous. I'm not uncaring, and I'm not incompetent."
Upon realizing that Christa was still alive during her execution attempt, Fowler admitted he was worried she was "going to be in a permanent vegetative state with a quarter-million dollars in medical expenses."
Christa Pike survived two lethal injections ... but Tennessee's governor is signaling she may not get a free pass from death row just because the state failed to execute her the first time.
Gov. Bill Lee addressed Pike's fate Wednesday ... saying he expects her death sentence to remain in place despite the botched execution that left her hospitalized.
Asked whether Tennessee would attempt to execute Pike again or commute her sentence to life in prison, Lee told reporters, "I suspect her sentence will be the same as before unless determined otherwise by the courts."
Christa Pike is making significant strides in her recovery after surviving a botched execution in Tennessee ... but doctors are still trying to determine the extent of any lasting psychological and cognitive damage ... TMZ has learned.
An attorney for Christa tells TMZ ... she's continuing to improve physically and is now able to walk more on her own. The attorney says Christa's speech has also improved, and she's now able to communicate more clearly and form full sentences.
However, her attorney says her cognitive and psychological functioning are still being monitored and it could take another month or longer before there's a clearer picture of any potential long-term effects from the ordeal.
Casey Anthony says America needs to do away with the death penalty ... 15 years after she narrowly avoided the punishment herself.
Casey -- who was found not guilty of murdering her 2-year-old daughter Caylee back in the summer of 2011 -- says state-sanctioned death as a punishment is inhumane ... claiming there's no evidence that the severe punishment stops people from committing crimes.
Christa Pike is going through some major psychological trauma after surviving her botched execution ... this according to her legal team.
TMZ obtained a statement from Pike's lawyers -- Randy Spivey, Kelly Gleason, Stephen Ferrell and Luke Ihnen -- who say her physical health is improving ... but the ordeal has taken a psychological toll.
The lawyers say she's eating a regular diet and her lungs are clear, but added ... "While her physical recovery has been remarkable, significant questions remain about the long-term effects of what she endured."
Texas has carried out an execution days after Tennessee inmate Christa Pike survived two doses of lethal injection ... with the condemned killer's final words directed at his victim's family.
Jamaal Howard was pronounced dead Wednesday night at a Texas prison after receiving a dose of pentobarbital ... the same drug used during Pike's botched execution last week.
Howard was convicted of fatally shooting convenience store clerk Vickie Swartout during a 2000 robbery in Texas. Surveillance video showed Howard shooting Swartout in the chest before stealing $114 and a carton of cigarettes.
Before the execution, Howard apologized to Swartout's family, who watched from a viewing room near the death chamber.
A Tennessee judge has ordered evidence from Christa Pike's botched execution to be preserved ... as her attorneys fight over what happens next.
Pike's legal team was back in court Wednesday morning for a status conference tied to an emergency motion filed after the failed execution.
Her legal team also revealed Pike is still shackled and handcuffed to her hospital bed ... even though medical staff have asked for the restraints to be removed.
As we reported, Tennessee tried to put Pike to death last week, but she survived two doses of the lethal injection drug pentobarbital and was rushed from prison to a Nashville hospital.
Texas is moving forward with an execution just one week after Christa Pike survived a botched lethal injection in Tennessee ... and the condemned man's lawyers want to pump the brakes.
Jamaal Howard is scheduled to be put to death Wednesday in Texas, which uses the same drug -- pentobarbital -- that failed to kill Pike after two doses.
Howard's attorneys are asking Gov. Greg Abbott for a 30-day delay while they seek more information about Texas' supply of the drug ... arguing he shouldn't be executed "within days of the same drug failing in another state."
A Tennessee death row inmate convicted of killing his buddy shortly after bailing him out of jail just caught a major break ... thanks to the botched execution of Christa Pike.
Gary Wayne Sutton was scheduled to be executed Dec. 3, but Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee pulled the plug on the state's remaining executions this year after officials failed to put Pike to death.
Sutton has been sitting on death row for decades for the 1992 murders of siblings Tommy Griffin and Connie Branam ... and the circumstances surrounding Griffin's death are especially wild.
An attorney representing Christa Pike has said that his client may never fully recover from her botched execution ... and claims that her hospital room is under guard as she remains on a ventilator.
Stephen Ferrellrevealed to Jake Tapper on CNN Sunday that Pike is still hospitalized and "critically ill."
Ferrell said ... "She is guarded. I'm not sure who may have seen her. I know I have not seen her. The state of Tennessee has not yet said whether it will ultimately try to execute her again."
Christa Pike experienced extreme pain during her botched execution in Tennessee because the drug administered to her by the state failed to knock her out and may have caused her to jerk around and foam at the mouth, according to a death penalty expert.
Deborah Denno, a 30-year professor at Fordham Law School whose articles on capital punishment have been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court, tells TMZ ... the whole objective in putting someone to death is to make sure the prisoner does not feel any pain during the execution -- and Tennessee failed big time on that front concerning Pike.
In her case, Pike was administered two doses of Pentobarbital -- a barbiturate that acts as a central nervous depressant -- to carry out the state's lethal injection mandate, Denno tells us.
Christa Pike made some horrific noises for nearly an hour during her botched execution ... and one local TV news anchor who was there is describing it for us ... and it sounds unpleasant.
Tori Gessner -- an anchor for WKRN news in Tennessee -- joined us on "TMZ Live" Thursday to discuss what she saw and heard during Wednesday night's execution attempt ... which she says got off to a weird start when they didn't open the curtain for nearly an hour.
Tori says it's normal for the curtain to be closed at first ... and that during this time, it's generally assumed IVs are being attached to the inmate.
However, Tori says this usually takes 10 to 15 minutes ... but this time it took about an hour. During this time, she says she could hear some moaning, whimpering, and crying.
