The documents, provided Monday to the Indiana Capital Chronicle, include a previously undisclosed Department of Correction drug inventory log that tracks purchases, use, and disposal of pentobarbital over the past two years.
The information was released months after the Capital Chronicle first requested it and amid ongoing litigation over public access to execution drug records.
Pentobarbital has been used in all three of Indiana’s most recent executions.
Joseph Corcoran was executed in December 2024 for the 1997 killings of four men in Fort Wayne — marking Indiana’s first execution since 2009. Benjamin Ritchie was executed in May 2025 for the 2000 shooting death of Beech Grove Police Officer William Toney. And Ward was put to death in October 2025 for the 2001 rape and murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne in Spencer County.
All three executions were carried out using pentobarbital as a single-drug lethal injection — a departure from Indiana’s prior protocol, in place since 1995, that relied on a three-drug combination to carry out death sentences.
Drug inventory log show extended storage
According to the newly released inventory log, Indiana paid $100,000 for additional pentobarbital that was used during Ward’s Oct. 10 execution.
Gov. Mike Braun previously disclosed last June that Indiana had spent more than $1 million obtaining execution drugs over roughly a year, with costs ranging from $275,000 to $300,000 per dose — and that at least $600,000 was spent on pentobarbital that expired before it could be used.
The governor said those losses were tied to pentobarbital’s short shelf life — which he described as about 90 days — and to the difficulty of obtaining the drug amid pharmaceutical industry opposition to its use in executions.
The newly released records, however, show that some pentobarbital remained in state custody for far longer periods.
The log shows that Indiana purchased 12 vials of pentobarbital on Feb. 27, 2024, months for $900,000 before then-Gov. Eric Holcomb and Attorney General Todd Rokita publicly announced in June 2024 that the state had obtained pentobarbital to resume executions.
Six of those vials were used on Dec. 17, 2024, during Corcoran’s execution, leaving six vials in state inventory.
That timeline indicates the drugs used in Corcoran’s execution had been stored by the Department of Correction for nearly 10 months — a duration that appears to conflict with Braun’s earlier statements that pentobarbital typically has a shelf life of about 90 days.
“It appears DOC had pentobarbital sitting on the shelf before Joe’s execution for a very long time, especially if these were compounded drugs,” said Joanna Green, an Indiana public defender who works on death penalty cases.
In prior court filings ahead of Ward’s execution, however, DOC said the pentobarbital it planned to use was manufactured — not compounded — and was produced by a pharmaceutical manufacturer and distributed “without any post-manufacturing customizations.”
On April 30, 2025, under Braun’s administration, the state then purchased six additional vials for $275,000, bringing the total inventory to 12, according to the log.
Six vials were used on May 19, 2025, during Ritchie’s execution.
Trent Bennett, deputy general counsel for the governor’s office, said Monday that three doses were available for the May 2025 execution. Following the execution, he said, “two unexpired doses remained.”
Green said the inventory log also raises questions about whether DOC followed its own execution protocol during Ritchie’s execution.
“The other thing this document seems to indicate is that they took six vials out of Ben’s execution and put four back,” Green said. “To me, this indicates DOC broke their own protocol.”
She said the protocol the defense understands DOC to be using calls for three sets of syringes — with two syringes per set — each filled with 2.5 grams of pentobarbital. Under that process, Green said, six vials would be needed to prepare all three syringe sets.
“It appears they didn’t fill the two back-up sets of syringes for Ben’s case, or they would not have been able to put back four vials,” she said. “I can’t say this is what happened because the process is so shrouded in secrecy. This is what I piece together based on the limited information I have.”
Court records and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration forms previously obtained by the Capital Chronicle showed that an undisclosed amount of pentobarbital was “burned” at the Putnamville Correctional Facility on June 6, and that another undisclosed amount was destroyed on July 10 at the Indiana State Prison by “pour(ing)” them into “kitty litter.”
After those destructions, the inventory log shows the DOC had four vials remaining as of Aug. 14.
Ahead of Ward’s execution, Bennett said the state ordered an additional “single dose at a cost of $100,000 to ensure three doses were available” for Ward’s execution.
The inventory log shows DOC had six vials on hand as of Sept. 25. All were used during Ward’s execution, leaving zero vials afterward.
Ongoing scrutiny over execution process, drugs
It remains unclear where the execution drugs are sourced from. State law still protects the identity of suppliers.
Indiana Code prohibits disclosure of “the supplier’s identity through discovery or as evidence in any civil or criminal proceeding” and exempts suppliers from oversight by the pharmacy and medical licensing boards.
State law also does not provide access for journalists to witness executions unless invited by the condemned person. A federal lawsuit challenging that restriction is still pending. Indiana Capital Chronicle is a plaintiff in the case.
Indiana’s return to capital punishment has since drawn growing scrutiny from lawmakers, attorneys and medical experts, particularly after witnesses reported a violent physical response during Ritchie’s execution in May. Department of Correction officials have denied that the execution was botched. But questions raised in court filings, expert testimony and defense analysis have centered on the age, storage conditions and preparation of the pentobarbital used in that execution.
Previous court records showed DOC stores pentobarbital in a locked safe on prison grounds secured by three separate locks, accessible only to three designated employees. Temperatures are checked daily and logged, and the state has said the drugs are kept in an environment “suitable for storage.”
Still, defense attorneys pointed to separate DOC logs showing several consecutive days in January and February when storage temperatures fell outside the recommended range — in some cases as low as 62 degrees Fahrenheit (16.6°C). Green has said those fluctuations “may have affected the drugs used” in Ritchie’s execution.
Experts have further testified in court proceedings that compounded pentobarbital can vary in quality and stability and that handling, storage and time affect potency.
Manufactured pentobarbital, by contrast, is produced in sterile facilities under federal quality controls and generally carries longer shelf lives and stricter oversight than compounded alternatives, according to court filings.
Concerns over the cost, availability and quality of lethal injection drugs additionally shaped legislative debate during the current 2026 session. That included proposals to allow executions by firing squad if lethal injection drugs could not be obtained. Those bills have ultimately failed to advance, however.
Five men currently remain on Indiana’s death row at the state prison in Michigan City, though one has been deemed incompetent to be executed. None are currently scheduled.
Source: wishtv.com, Casey Smith, Indiana Capital Chronicle, February 24, 2026
"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
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