Texas authorities on Friday admitted to sharing vials of pentobarbital to the Virginia Department of Corrections for an execution there next week, but did not disclose how the state obtained the drugs. Photo: Fablok / Shutterstock

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Texas corrections officials on Friday admitted that they have supplied doses of a lethal drug to the state of Virginia for an execution there -- but refused to disclose how they obtained the chemical.

Officials said three vials of the drug pentobarbital were given to the Virginia Department of Corrections. Pentobarbital is a barbiturate often used in lethal injections and can cause death in high doses.


Friday, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice acknowledged that it shared the drug with Virginia but didn't give many details.

"The drugs have been tested for purity and will expire in April 2016," the agency said in a statement.

Texas officials also refused to disclose where they had obtained the pentobarbital. Virginia is scheduled to execute an inmate next week, its first in two years.

"State law prohibits the agency from disclosing the identity of the supplier of lethal injection drugs," the TDCJ said.

Friday's disclosure came a day after attorneys for Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip filed court papers claiming the Texas government is now manufacturing its own lethal injection drugs -- and it is sharing them with Virginia.

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A convicted killer, Glossip is scheduled to die on Sept. 30 barring a last-minute reprieve. Oklahoma will use the drug midazolam to aid in his execution -- but Glossip is asking for pentobarbital, which is considered to be more reliable in executions, since it appears that Texas is able to supply it.

Several states that still administer the death penalty have laws against identifying the sources of their execution drugs -- due to potential backlash against the pharmacy. Two years ago, Texas officials revealed the source of their drugs -- which immediately stopped supplying them.

However, that secrecy has raised a legal challenge by death row inmates who want to know where the drugs that will kill them are coming from -- a concern underscored by the botched execution of killer Clayton Lockett last year.

Lockett reacted violently to the injection of the drugs and did not die immediately in the death chamber. It was later determined that the IV put into Lockett's arm had failed -- and instead pushed the drugs into his tissues instead of his bloodstream, as is intended.