Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
The Indiana Department of Correction (DOC) offered a new but tiny glimpse into Indiana’s efforts to resume executions, revealing the state paid $900,000 to acquire the drug used to carry out the death penalty for convicted killer Joseph Corcoran.
But the new document does not make clear when or how much pentobarbital was purchased, which would provide context for the cost.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle sued the corrections department Jan. 21 amid a months-long battle to seek taxpayer dollars spent on the execution drug.
Before that, an existing state law was broadly applied by DOC and former Gov. Eric Holcomb’s office to shield details about how the state obtained the drug. The law specifically bars release of the name, address or tax identifier. But cost is not included.
Last month, Gov. Mike Braun’s team indicated a willingness to reverse the previous administration’s reluctance to disclose, saying the governor had “directed his legal team to evaluate how to provide the greatest level of transparency under current law in hopes of resolving the current lawsuit.”
During negotiations, the Indiana Attorney General’s Office — representing DOC — provided the Capital Chronicle with an almost entirely redacted single-page document. Exempted from the black redaction box on the sheet was a sliver of text: “IDOC shall pay the Contractor the sum of nine hundred thousand dollars ($900,000).”
The page appears to originate from the state’s contract with the unknown drug vendor.
The Capital Chronicle is still seeking additional details about the execution drug and dosage amounts.
The latest court response filed Wednesday by state attorneys denies any wrongdoing in shielding information requested by the Capital Chronicle.
Details still sparse
A 2015 fiscal report prepared by Indiana General Assembly found that the average cost of a death penalty trial in the Hoosier State was $385,458 — nearly 10 times more than the cost of trial and appeal for cases in which the prosecution seeks a maximum sentence of life without parole.
Elsewhere, reporting from the Idaho Statesman indicated the state’s corrections department paid $50,000 for 15 grams of pentobarbital in 2023. CBS2 in Idaho further reported that the state paid $100,000 for another three doses of the drug.
Other reporting similarly suggests that five grams of pentobarbital is generally needed for a single execution.
Single-gram vials of pentobarbital appeared to cost Arizona $1,500 each; the state reportedly paid a total of $1.5 million for 1,500 vials in 2020. Arizona’s execution protocol calls for five grams of the drug.
Utah officials said they paid roughly $200,000 for two doses of pentobarbital in 2024. Both of those doses were used in an execution in August, according to the Utah News Dispatch.
And while Tennessee — much like Indiana — has mostly withheld details about death penalty drugs, The Tennessean reported last week that the Volunteer State likely spent $525,000, at some point since 2017, for an undisclosed amount of pentobarbital.
Corcoran was executed Dec. 18 at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. He and his legal team allowed a reporter from the Indiana Capital Chronicle to witness the execution at the state prison. No other media were permitted to be present, per state law.
The execution was the first in which Indiana used the one-drug method. Previously, the state used a lethal combination of three substances to induce death.
Holcomb and Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita announced in June 2024 that DOC had acquired pentobarbital, specifically, to carry out executions.
But prison officials gave few details on the night of Corcoran’s execution; they did not officially confirm that pentobarbital was used. It was also unclear when exactly the execution drug was administered into Corcoran’s left arm, via an IV line that protruded from the execution chamber’s wall.
In court proceedings, legal counsel for Corcoran and other Indiana death row inmates have repeatedly called on the state to make new execution drug protocols available to the public, including the amount of pentobarbital in Indiana’s possession, the drug’s expiration date and details about its potency and sterility.
Experts and advocates note, for example, pentobarbital can expire and should not be used if the drug isn’t stored at a proper temperature.
Many of the documented botched executions in recent years have occurred because the drugs being used had expired, were contaminated, or they were administered “incorrectly,” according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Indiana officials have refused to say how much additional pentobarbital the state has in storage or when it’s set to expire.
Other efforts — and executions — still in limbo
A Republican lawmaker attempted earlier in the legislative session to advance bill language to further regulate Indiana’s use of execution drugs, but his efforts have so far proven to be unsuccessful.
Rep. Bob Morris, R-Fort Wayne, originally filed House Bill 1030, which sought to abolish the death penalty altogether in Indiana. 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.
Morris’ bill never received a committee hearing in the House, though, effectively killing the measure.
Separately, an amendment Morris offered on a separate 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.
Death sentences for Indiana’s seven other death row inmates are still pending.
One of those men, Benjamin Ritchie, could be on deck. Rokita filed a motion with the state’s high court last fall requesting an execution date be set for the death row inmate, who was convicted in 2002 for killing a law enforcement officer from Beech Grove.
Ritchie has exhausted his appeals. Indiana’s high court justices have yet to grant the state’s request or set an execution date.
Two other men on death row have also exhausted their appeals, leaving four others with some recourse.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, nonprofit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.