A scheduled execution in Tennessee has ended in an extraordinary medical and legal situation after 50-year-old death row inmate Christa Pike survived an attempted lethal injection.
Pike was scheduled to be executed on September 30 for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.
She would have become the first woman executed by Tennessee in more than two centuries.
According to her attorneys, Pike was administered two doses of pentobarbital, the drug Tennessee uses in its lethal injection protocol.
She reportedly lost consciousness but continued breathing, with witnesses describing audible snoring.
The execution was eventually halted, and Pike was transported by ambulance to a hospital for medical treatment.
Tennessee officials said the execution team followed the state’s approved protocol. However, questions are now being raised about why the drugs failed to produce the intended result, including whether there were difficulties establishing intravenous access or other problems with the administration of the medication.
Pike’s lawyers had previously raised concerns about difficulties accessing her veins.
They are now arguing that the failed execution subjected their client to unconstitutional and potentially cruel punishment.
The incident has prompted Tennessee authorities to order an investigation into what went wrong. The failure is also expected to trigger significant legal challenges over whether the state can attempt another execution.
Pike’s case is particularly unusual because, unlike some previous failed executions where authorities were unable to establish IV access, the lethal drugs were reportedly administered in this case, yet she remained alive.
Her current medical condition has not been fully disclosed publicly.