2 lethal injections, still alive: What went wrong in Tennessee woman's execution

Christa Pike was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in Tennessee on Wednesday night for a murder committed more than three decades ago. Instead, the 50-year-old death row inmate survived two doses of the execution drug and was taken to hospital.

Pike's execution at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville was the state's first attempt to put a woman to death in more than 200 years. But after officials administered the lethal injection, she did not die as expected. Witnesses heard her snoring, gasping and taking heavy breaths from inside the execution chamber.

At one point, Pike lifted her head and asked whether the pain and burning she was experiencing were normal. Her lawyers later said she was receiving life-saving treatment at a hospital and warned that she may have suffered a brain injury.

The failed execution has now raised questions about how the lethal injection was administered, the condition of the drug used and concerns previously raised by Pike's lawyers about her veins.

Pike was strapped to a gurney inside the death chamber shortly before 7.30 PM (local time), after the US Supreme Court overturned an earlier stay that had temporarily halted the execution. The Tennessee Department of Correction administered pentobarbital, which is a powerful sedative used in the state's lethal injection protocol.

But the first dose did not have the intended effect. A second dose was then administered, yet Pike remained alive.

According to Reuters, journalists who witnessed the execution heard Pike snoring, taking loud breaths and gasping. She also complained about discomfort in her arm. At times, the curtain to the execution chamber was closed, leaving journalists able to hear what was happening without seeing it.

Clergy members were called into the chamber twice, Reuters reported. An ambulance was later seen arriving at the prison before taking Pike to an off-site medical facility. Pike's lawyers subsequently filed an emergency motion seeking to halt the execution and allow her to receive medical treatment.

The state's execution protocol permits a second dose if the first does not have the intended effect. However, according to the Associated Press, it does not clearly specify what should happen if the second dose also fails.'DEGRADED' DRUGS AND DAMAGED VEINS

Pike's legal team has pointed to two potential problems: the condition of the pentobarbital and difficulties accessing her veins. Her lawyers said they had previously warned officials that Pike had small and difficult-to-access veins. The issue was examined during a three-day court hearing about a month before the scheduled execution, according to The Tennessean.

After the failed execution, her lawyers alleged that the pentobarbital had degraded and that damaged or "blown" veins contributed to the failure.

"We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms. Pike proved to be true: difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy," her legal team said, as quoted by the New York Post.

The Tennessee Department of Correction defended its handling of the execution and said officials had followed the state's established protocol.

"The Tennessee Department of Correction followed every step of the state’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office," the agency said.

"The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective, and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out this evening."COULD PIKE HAVE SUFFERED BRAIN DAMAGE?

One of the most serious questions now concerns what happened to Pike after the lethal injection failed.

Dr Joel Zivot, an Emory University School of Medicine professor retained as a medical expert by Pike's legal team, told the BBC that the concentration of pentobarbital in her blood may never have reached a level high enough to stop her breathing and heartbeat.

He said the delay before resuscitation could potentially have caused a brain injury.

"It’s very possible that as a consequence of the delay of the beginning of resuscitation she will have a brain injury," Zivot said.GOVERNOR FREEZES EXECUTIONS AFTER FAILED INCIDENT

Executions in Tennessee have been halted for the rest of the year, Governor Bill Lee has said, after two attempts to execute death row inmate Christa Pike by lethal injection failed.

In a statement to CBS News, Lee said lawful executions were among the state's "most serious responsibilities". He, who had rejected Pike's clemency petition on Monday, ordered a "comprehensive, third-party review" of what happened during the execution.

Lee also postponed the state's remaining scheduled execution this year.

The latest incident has therefore placed renewed scrutiny on Tennessee's execution procedures.

The state Department of Correction, however, maintained that officials had followed the approved protocol and that the lethal injection chemical had consistently been effective.WHY WAS PIKE SENTENCED TO DEATH?

Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. She was 18 at the time of the killing. Pike, her then-boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, who was 17, and a third companion lured Slemmer, a fellow student at a Knoxville Job Corps vocational centre, into a wooded area.

According to court records and the accounts cited by Reuters and the New York Post, the attack involved prolonged torture and beating. Pike and Shipp were convicted of first-degree murder after confessing to the killing.

The crime drew widespread attention because of its brutality. Prosecutors said the perpetrators carved a pentagram into Slemmer's chest and that Pike took a piece of her skull as a souvenir.

Slemmer's mother, May Martinez, has spoken publicly in support of Pike's execution. Shipp received a sentence of life plus 25 years with the possibility of parole. His parole was denied in October 2025 because of the seriousness of the offence, according to 13 News Now, with his case not eligible for review again until October 2031.PIKE'S LAWYERS HAD SOUGHT CLEMENCY

Pike's lawyers had opposed the execution and asked Governor Lee to commute her death sentence to life without parole. In a 226-page petition, they detailed a childhood marked by violence, neglect and sexual abuse. They said Pike had been raped at ages 11 and 17 and had later been diagnosed in prison with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Her lawyers also cited evidence that her mother drank heavily during pregnancy and argued that this may have affected Pike's brain development and impulse control. Pike was also convicted in 2001 of attempted first-degree murder in an assault on another inmate, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction.

She was the first woman Tennessee had attempted to execute in more than two centuries. She was also set to become the only person in the modern era of US capital punishment to be executed in Tennessee for a crime committed while she was a teenager.- Ends