Death row inmate Christa Pike survived Tennessee’s attempt to execute her by lethal injection on Wednesday, forcing officials to halt the procedure and transfer her to an off-site medical facility.
Pike, 50, had been scheduled to become the first woman executed by Tennessee in more than two centuries and the first person in the modern era of US capital punishment to be put to death in the state for a crime committed as a teenager.
Prison officials said the state’s execution protocol was followed, but witnesses reported that Pike remained alive after two doses of lethal injection drugs were administered.
Witnesses Hear Gasping and Snoring
Journalists who witnessed the execution attempt reported hearing Pike snoring, taking loud breaths and gasping during the procedure. She also complained of discomfort in her arm.
At times, a curtain was closed, preventing reporters from seeing what was happening inside the execution chamber.
Clergy members were called into the chamber twice before an ambulance arrived at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. Pike was later taken to an off-site medical facility.
Her lawyers filed an emergency motion in federal court during the execution, citing witness accounts that two syringes containing lethal injection chemicals had been administered while Pike was still alive and snoring.
Her condition after the failed execution was not immediately known, and it remained unclear what legal steps would follow.
Tennessee Suspends Executions
The Tennessee Department of Correction defended its handling of the execution attempt, saying officials had followed the state’s established procedure.
“The Tennessee Department of Correction followed every step of the state’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office,” the department said.
The agency said the lethal injection chemicals used under the protocol had consistently been effective and that the procedure did not allow officials to take additional steps beyond those already carried out.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, who rejected Pike’s clemency petition on Monday, announced after the failed execution that the state would suspend all executions for the remainder of the year and conduct a comprehensive third-party review.
The incident marked the second failed execution attempt in Tennessee this year. In May, officials abandoned an execution after struggling to find a suitable vein for lethal injection in another death row inmate.
Pike Was 18 When She Killed Classmate
Pike was 18 in January 1995 when she and her 17-year-old boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, lured 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer into a wooded area near their Knoxville Job Corps vocational centre.
Pike, Shipp and another companion tortured and beat Slemmer to death. The killing drew widespread attention because of the circumstances surrounding the crime.
Pike and Shipp later confessed and were convicted of first-degree murder. Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, has publicly supported Pike’s execution.
Pike was also convicted in 2001 of attempted first-degree murder after an assault on another inmate, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction.
Lawyers Cited Abuse and Mental Health History
Pike’s lawyers had sought to have her death sentence commuted to life imprisonment without parole, pointing to her history of childhood abuse, neglect and sexual violence.
In a 226-page petition to Governor Lee, they said Pike had been raped at ages 11 and 17 and had experienced violence and neglect during childhood.
Her lawyers also cited diagnoses of bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder that she received while in prison.
They further argued that Pike’s mother had consumed large amounts of alcohol during pregnancy, potentially affecting brain development and contributing to difficulties with impulse control during Pike’s youth.
The defence maintained that these circumstances, together with Pike’s age at the time of the crime, warranted a sentence of life imprisonment without parole rather than execution.
Rare Execution of a Woman in the U.S
Executions of women remain uncommon in the United States.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 18 women were among the 1,683 people executed in the US between the resumption of capital punishment in 1976 and Wednesday’s attempted execution.
Before the latest incident, Tennessee had executed 17 people.
Pike’s failed execution leaves questions over whether Tennessee will make another attempt to carry out the death sentence and what further legal action her lawyers may pursue.
