Governor says Indiana is out of execution drugs, signals willingness to debate capital punishment

Indiana has exhausted its supply of lethal injection drugs after carrying out two executions in the past six months — and Gov. Mike Braun said Tuesday he doesn’t plan to buy more, at least for now.

The governor’s remarks followed the state’s December execution of Joseph Corcoran — Indiana’s first since 2009 — and last month’s execution of Benjamin Ritchie.

Recent reporting by the Indiana Capital Chronicle revealed the state spent $900,000 last year to obtain pentobarbital to carry out executions, but officials wouldn’t say how much was purchased and refused to provide information on expiration dates, storage or other details.

Braun said the high cost and short shelf life of the drug should prompt new discussions on how the state approaches capital punishment moving forward.

I'm not going to be for putting it on the shelf and then letting them expire.

– Indiana Gov. Mike Braun

“We’ve got to address the broad issue of, what are other methods, the discussion of capital punishment in general, and then something that costs, I think, $300,000 a pop that has a 90-day shelf life — I’m not going to be for putting it on the shelf and then letting them expire,” the governor told reporters at the Indiana Statehouse.

Braun, a Republican in his first year as governor, said the question of whether Indiana should continue to carry out executions at all is one that lawmakers should weigh in the months ahead. 

“There are legislators that wonder if it’s still relevant,” Braun continued. “I’m going to listen to them, the courts, and the broader discussion in general.”

Execution methods in other states

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and former Gov. Eric Holcomb announced the state’s acquisition of pentobarbital in June 2024, but it’s not clear when the state ultimately received the drugs.

Indiana Department of Correction officials have refused to disclose how many doses of pentobarbital were used for each of recent executions, or how close the drug was to its expiration when it was administered.

“I think we got in a pickle where we stored three, and now it looks like … it will be coming up again,” Braun said Tuesday, appearing to refer to execution drug expiration.

Current Indiana law only allows lethal injection as a means of execution. The one-drug method is a departure from the state’s protocol used since 1995, involving a series of three chemicals.

But with ongoing drug shortages and increasing legal and political complications, some states have revived older execution methods — or approved new ones.

South Carolina recently reinstated the firing squad as an option after years of delays due to its inability to obtain lethal injection drugs. The state has so far carried out two executions by firing squad in 2025 — the first in the U.S. in 15 years.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, prior to South Carolina’s move only three executions by firing squad had taken place nationwide since 1977 — all in Utah.

It’s expected to be the primary method for executions in Idaho starting in 2026. Mississippi and Oklahoma also permit firing squads, but only as a secondary method to lethal injection.

Braun pointed to South Carolina, specifically, but he didn’t endorse any specific execution method.

Nine states permit executions by lethal gas, but only five — Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma — specifically autho­rize death by nitro­gen hypox­ia, a process that deprives inmates of oxygen using nitrogen gas. 

So far, Alabama and Louisiana are the only states that have per­formed exe­cu­tions by nitrogen gas, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Arizona and Mississippi additionally allow gas chambers, a method in which inmates are exposed to a lethal gas — traditionally hydrogen cyanide — inside a sealed chamber. The process can take several minutes, however, and has drawn criticism over the risk of prolonged suffering.

Lawmakers could reexamine Indiana’s death penalty

Earlier this year, some Indiana lawmakers — from both sides of the aisle — questioned the future of capital punishment in the state.

Rep. Bob Morris, R-Fort Wayne, filed House Bill 1030, which sought to abolish the death penalty altogether in Indiana and replace it with life without parole. He later discussed plans to scale back the bill — and instead focus on execution drug rules and witness guidelines — hoping that a narrowed proposal could give it a better chance at advancing through the legislative process.

Despite some bipartisan support, Morris’ bill never received a committee hearing in the House, effectively killing the measure.

Separately, an amendment Morris offered on another bill sought to require that Indiana State Police test pentobarbital between 12 and 24 hours before an execution to ensure the substance is “100% effective” before it’s administered. But that proposal never moved, either.

Other Republican and Democratic lawmakers have previously suggested narrowing the list of crimes eligible for execution or mandating that any new methods meet constitutional and ethical standards.

No one has been added to death row in Indiana since 2013 as many prosecutors choose life in prison without parole over the cost of a death penalty trial.

The next opportunity for lawmakers to file and debate bills is during next year’s legislative session, slated to begin in January 2026.

The last person executed in Indiana before Corcoran was Eric Wrinkles in 2009. Six inmates currently remain on Indiana’s death row, and more than a dozen capital punishment cases are still pending statewide.

Source: indianacapitalchronicle.com, Casey Smith, June 4, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde