Tennessee Death Row Inmate Christa Pike Survived Two Lethal Injections — Here's What We Know

Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike is in hospital after an attempt to execute her failed on Wednesday night, with her lawyers saying she was still alive after two rounds of lethal injection drugs.

Governor Bill Lee has ordered a review and said the state's last remaining execution this year will not go ahead as planned.

What Happened

Pike, 50, was scheduled to be executed at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville at about 8pm local time on Wednesday, BBC News reports. She would have been the first woman executed by Tennessee in more than 200 years, according to Sky News.

She was given two doses of the drug pentobarbital. The AP news agency reported that the curtain in the witness room was closed twice and that media were at one point asked to leave.

As it was happening, her legal team filed an emergency motion saying she had lost consciousness but still had a heartbeat. A federal judge then noted that medical personnel had begun giving her medical care. One of her attorneys told the BBC she is now being given "life-saving measures" in hospital.

The State's Response

The Tennessee Department of Correction says it followed "every step" of its approved protocol. It added that the protocol "does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out this evening."

According to AP, as cited by the BBC, the protocol provides for a second set of syringes if the first fails, but does not say what happens if the person is still alive after the second.

Governor Lee said he has ordered "a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred."

Pike's lawyers said the state "once again failed to carry out a lawful execution." They claim the concerns they raised beforehand, including difficult vein access and degraded drugs, proved true. The state has not accepted those claims.

A medical expert retained by her legal team, Dr Joel Zivot of Emory University, told the BBC that Pike likely never reached a high enough blood level of the drug. He warned that delays in starting resuscitation could result in a brain injury. That is the view of a defence-retained expert, not a confirmed medical finding.

The Case Behind It

Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Pike was 18 at the time. She and her then-boyfriend beat, tortured and killed Slemmer, whom they had met at a job training camp for troubled teens, per the BBC.

Slemmer's mother, May Martinez, had waited decades to see the sentence carried out and attended the execution. She told NBC News afterwards: "It was a mess."

Pike's lawyers had argued that the jury never heard mitigating evidence about her documented history of childhood sexual abuse. The state had long argued she lied about it, but said at a recent hearing that it did not dispute she had suffered abuse. The governor denied her clemency request this week, and the US Supreme Court overturned a lower court's pause late on Wednesday, clearing the way for the execution.

Why It Matters

This was not the first problem in Tennessee this year. The BBC notes that the execution of Tony Carruthers was postponed in May after staff could not find a vein to administer the drug.

Only 18 women have been executed in the US since 1976, compared with 1,663 men, about 1% of the total.

What Happens Next

The independent review ordered by the governor is the next step. Questions remain about Pike's medical condition, whether the state can attempt another execution, and what the failure means for Tennessee's lethal injection protocol. Those have not been answered by officials yet.

Where do you think the state should go from here? Share your thoughts in the comments, and please keep it respectful.

Sources:

• BBC News
• Sky News