In a motion filed Nov. 6, Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti asked the court to remove part of an earlier order that had allowed Pike's attorneys to examine and test the remaining pentobarbital. Skrmetti argues that even the labels on the drug vials contain information that could identify the supplier, whose identity he says is protected under Tennessee law.

Pike's attorneys counter that they are not trying to unmask the manufacturer. They say the testing is aimed at determining whether the drug was stored properly, handled correctly or had expired — questions that go to the heart of why the execution failed.

Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital during her execution at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution on Sept. 30, following a last-minute effort to stay the execution that was later reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court. She was hospitalized after the failed lethal injection and returned to prison on Oct. 9. She remains confined to the institution's infirmary and has requested a move back to her previous confinement arrangements.

The botched execution was the second in Tennessee in 2026 and has raised serious questions about whether the state can continue to carry out lethal injection at all. A chancellor had already ordered the state to preserve evidence from the procedure; the pending motion determines whether Pike's defense team will be permitted to examine that evidence directly.

The chancellor will either grant Skrmetti's request to revise the preservation order or deny it. Either way, the ruling is likely to shape how much access death row inmates' lawyers have to the physical evidence of executions in Tennessee — and whether the state can shield its drug supply chain from outside review.