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A press freedom group representing the Indiana Capital Chronicle has filed a lawsuit in Marion Superior Court alleging the Indiana Department of Correction violated public records law by declining to reveal the cost of the lethal injection drug used in Joseph Corcoran’s December execution.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press filed the lawsuit on Tuesday on behalf of the online news outlet.
The group announced the lawsuit is the second case that Kris Cundiff, the group’s attorney in Indiana, has filed on behalf of local media in the last month.
“The people of Indiana should not be left in the dark when the government exercises one of its greatest powers: the authority to execute one of its citizens,” Cundiff said in a news release. “The records at issue in this lawsuit belong to the public, and they should be promptly released to help the public better understand how much public money it costs to carry out the death penalty in Indiana.”
The Indiana Department of Correction did not immediately respond to Indiana Lawyer’s request for comment on the lawsuit.
In the lawsuit, the Capital Chronicle alleges that the IDOC violated Indiana’s Access to Public Records Act when it denied the nonprofit news organization’s request for records showing the amount of taxpayer money the state spent to procure the lethal injection drug pentobarbital last summer.
“In an effort to inform the public of the cost expended by the State to acquire pentobarbital, in June 2024, the Plaintiff requested public records from IDOC showing the cost of the drug. After months of unresponsiveness, Defendant continues to refuse to disclose the requested records as required by APRA,” the lawsuit stated.
The lawsuit says that, on June 30, Capital Chronicle editor-in-chief Niki Kelly submitted a public records request to the IDOC that read, “I am seeking the cost of acquiring the drug pentobarbital to resume executions. Indiana law shields the entity the drugs were bought from but not the cost. A redacted invoice would meet the request.”
The department responded to Kelly on July 5, saying: “IDOC is currently evaluating what, if any, information regarding its lawful procurement of the lethal chemical pentobarbital it may disclose without contravening Indiana law, including but not limited to the information that forms the basis for your request.”
The lawsuit noted that on Sept. 27, 89 days after the publication made the request, the Capital Chronicle filed a formal complaint with the state’s Office of the Public Access Counselor.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle, in its lawsuit, is asking the court to issue an order requiring the department to disclose the public records it requested in June and identify the amount of public revenue spent by the State of Indiana to procure the lethal injection drug pentobarbital.
It also asks for an order requiring the department to hereinafter respond to all APRA requests within a reasonable time and to award reasonable attorney’s fees and costs and any other relief deemed just and proper by the court.
Indiana had suspended death-penalty executions for 15 years due to difficulty obtaining lethal-injection drugs. Gov. Eric Holcomb lifted the moratorium last year after the drugs were procured.
The state executed Corcoran, who had been on death row since 1999, on Dec. 18.
The Reporters Committee launched the Local Legal Initiative — which is also active in Colorado, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee — in the state last year to provide journalists and news organizations with the free legal support they need to pursue enterprise and investigative stories in their communities.
The Capital Chronicle’s case comes roughly a month after Cundiff filed the first lawsuit brought with support from the Indiana Local Legal Initiative on behalf of the Morgan County Correspondent. In that case, the weekly newspaper alleges that a local school board just southwest of Indianapolis violated Indiana’s Open Door Law by taking unlawful official action in a private meeting when filling a vacant board seat.
The Reporters Committee launched the Local Legal Initiative in 2019.
There are seven men currently on Indiana’s death row.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita already has asked the Indiana Supreme Court to set an execution date for Benjamin Ritchie, who is on death row for the fatal 2000 shooting of Beech Grove Police Officer William Toney.
Indiana is one of 27 states that have the death penalty, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
The case is States Newsroom, Inc. d/b/a The Indiana Capital Chronicle v. Indiana Department of Correction, 49D04-2501-PL-003330.
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