Christa Pike Survives Botched Execution as Tennessee Halts Executions

Christa Pike survived Tennessee's attempt to execute her Wednesday night after receiving two doses of a lethal injection drug, according to witnesses and her attorneys. Pike, 50, was taken to a hospital, and Gov. Bill Lee has called off the state's remaining executions for the year while an outside review examines what went wrong.

Pike would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. Her condition has not been publicly released, and her attorneys said they had not been told how she is doing.

A Day of Legal Whiplash

The execution had been scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. About an hour beforehand, a federal appeals court issued a last-minute stay so it could review whether her history of childhood abuse was fully considered at sentencing.

Tennessee asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift the stay, and the justices did so later in the day, allowing the execution to move forward that evening. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.

"The Court grants such extraordinary relief solely to allow the State to execute Pike before litigation over her conviction has properly run its course," the dissenting justices wrote.

What Witnesses Saw

Media witnesses said Pike appeared to receive two doses of pentobarbital but did not lose consciousness. Associated Press reporter Kim Chandler said Pike appeared noticeably awake and looked toward prison officials to ask whether it was supposed to feel that way, according to CBS News.

At one point, Pike reportedly said, "The vein in my arm feels like it's about to bust."

Witnesses said her mouth fell open several times and she began to snore loudly. The curtain to the execution chamber closed for the final time at 8:06 p.m., and reporters were escorted out at 8:53 p.m. while Pike was still alive.

"It appears this did not go how this was supposed to go," said John North, a WBIR journalist who witnessed the attempt.

During the procedure, Pike's attorneys filed an emergency motion asking for her execution to be stopped and for her to receive immediate medical care. The filing said she "has not lost consciousness and still has a heartbeat and is audibly snoring."

Governor Halts Executions

Lee responded by ordering an independent investigation.

"Carrying out a lawfully imposed sentence is among the State's most serious responsibilities, and the people of Tennessee expect it to be done in a manner that is not only legal and constitutional, but is effective," Lee said, according to ABC News. "I have ordered a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred. Therefore, the remaining scheduled execution will not be carried out this year."

The Tennessee Department of Correction said it followed every step of the state's approved protocol. "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," the department said.

Attorneys Say Their Warnings Came True

Pike had challenged the state's lethal injection protocol before her execution date, raising concerns about her small veins and post-traumatic stress disorder. She also asked to be executed by an all-female firing squad, but that request was denied.

"We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms. Pike proved to be true," said her attorneys, Randy Spivey and Kelly Gleason. They cited "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."

The physician who oversaw Pike's execution, Dr. Mark Fowler, also oversaw the May execution attempt of Tony Carruthers, which was abandoned after staff could not establish IV access for more than an hour, according to WSMV.

Can Tennessee Try Again?

Pike's death warrant expired at midnight Wednesday. Her federal defender, Kelley Henry, said any new execution date would require action from the Tennessee Supreme Court.

A 1947 U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowed Louisiana to try a second time to execute Willie Francis after the electric chair failed. But legal experts note that ruling stressed the first failure was accidental. Pike's attorneys argue her case shows a deeper problem with the state's process.

Some states have turned to other methods, including Idaho, which made the firing squad its preferred execution method. Tennessee does not offer it.

The Case Behind It All

Pike was 18 when she and her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow Job Corps student, in Knoxville in 1995. She was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1996.

Slemmer's mother, May Martinez, had traveled to witness the execution. "Every time I think about it, I think about Colleen feeling that pain and trying to get up and run," she said before the attempt.

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