Lawyers ask Gov. Braun to pause Jeffrey Weisheit's Nov. 5 execution pending drug records

Jeffrey Weisheit’s legal team is requesting that Governor Mike Braun halt the scheduled execution of the death row inmate until the state produces specific quality control records for the lethal injection drugs. The new filing was submitted Tuesday, following the governor’s denial of Weisheit’s request to commute his sentence to life without parole. The separate petition for a temporary reprieve and an independent review of execution procedures remains pending.

Weisheit is set to be executed before sunrise on Nov. 5 at Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. He was sentenced to death for the 2010 murders of 8-year-old Alyssa Lynch and her 5-year-old brother, Caleb, in a house fire near Evansville. The core of the new legal argument concerns the documentation surrounding the most recent purchase of pentobarbital.

The Department of Correction confirmed Monday that it has received a new batch of execution drugs. The state purchased the medication for $275,000. An inventory log released to the Indiana Capital Chronicle on Oct. 29 records the receipt of six 50-milliliter vials of pentobarbital. However, that log does not list testing results, expiration dates, or temperature readings for the new supply.

Attorney Joe Perkovich stated that Indiana has not provided documentation verifying the potency, purity, and stability of the drugs. He noted that the state has also not shared records showing storage temperatures for the new inventory. In a news release, Perkovich said, “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.”

The legal team cited examples from other states to support their position. A 2017 settlement in Arizona requires officials to provide an analysis of execution chemicals and their concentrations within 10 days of seeking an execution warrant. Additionally, a March 2025 affidavit from South Carolina’s corrections director described laboratory testing of pentobarbital prior to a scheduled execution.

The filing also raises concerns about Pharmaneek Inc., the Indianapolis pharmacy identified as the state’s execution drug supplier. The pharmacy is currently on probation and faces a hearing on Nov. 9 regarding alleged violations of compounding restrictions. The board has not ordered its suspension in that proceeding. While the Department of Correction and the Indiana attorney general’s office defended the state’s preparations on Monday, both offices declined to discuss supplier details, citing state confidentiality law.

Indiana previously released temperature logs through public records requests, which showed readings outside the recommended storage range. A grant of the requested reprieve would postpone the execution date without changing Weisheit’s death sentence.