Death Row Inmate Revives Challenge to Tennessee Lethal Injection

A Tennessee death row inmate on Friday convinced the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit to revive part of his lawsuit challenging the state’s three-drug protocol for lethal injections.

Donald R. Middlebrooks presented new information about the increased availability of pentobarbital as an alternative to the state’s three-drug protocol, the court said. These more recent details mean Middlebrooks’ federal constitutional challenge isn’t barred by the Tennessee Supreme Court’s 2018 decision rejecting a similar constitutional challenge brought by Middlebrooks and other inmates, the court said.

Middlebrooks alleges that since 2018, “the federal government has made it easier to obtain ...