Idaho Spent $200,000 on Execution Drugs Now Expired
Since 2023, the Idaho Department of Correction has spent $200,000 in purchasing lethal injection chemicals. Because of prisoner appeals and other delays, however, those drugs have now expired, amounting to a complete waste of taxpayer money. Although Idaho passed a bill this year to replace lethal injections with a firing squad, all executions are currently blocked in the state after a court decision mandated the corrections department expand access to witnesses, as reported elsewhere in this issue. [See: PLN, June 2025, p.40.]
But even if that wasn’t the case, the expired drugs were the last of the state’s supply. And buying more of the chemical—an injectable pentobarbital that is not recommended for use in executions—is difficult to obtain through normal means because pharmaceutical companies often prohibit their products from being used in executions. Idaho’s last two purchases of pentobarbital were bought from an anonymous dealer, as PLN also reported. [See: PLN, May 2025, p.20.]
The first purchase, in 2023, occurred outside of a maximum-security prison in Boise—and involved handing off six vials of the chemical from the backseat of the dealer’s car. The following year, Tim Richardson, the warden who coordinated both exchanges, revealed in a deposition that, for the second purchase, he chose an “off site” location on a stretch of rural road that “would not draw attention.” Details about the deal arose through litigation around two death row prisoners, Gerald Pizzuto, 69, and Thomas Creech. The 74-year-old Creech was the victim of a botched execution by lethal injection in February 2024.
Pentobarbital, a sedative that is commonly used to euthanize pets, has so far been administered in executions by 14 states, with an additional five states planning to switch to it. The drug was also used for federal executions during the final months of GOP Pres. Donald Trump’s first term. On May 22, 2025, Tennessee became the latest state to deploy the chemical with the execution of Oscar Smith, 75, at a maximum-security prison in Nashville. A lawsuit brought on Smith’s behalf before his death described pentobarbital as a “poison” that poses a “high risk of a torturous death.”
Sources: The Idaho Statesman, NBC News, WKRN, Indiana Capital Chronicle
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