Tennessee Governor Bill Lee suspended all state executions through the end of the year and ordered a third-party review after prison officials administered two doses of pentobarbital to Christa Pike, who remained alive and loudly snoring in the Nashville execution chamber late Wednesday night.
The U.S. Supreme Court voted to clear the way for the lethal injection just hours before it began, overturning a 2-1 ruling by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that had temporarily halted the process to consider whether Pike’s allegations of childhood sexual abuse were fully evaluated at her 1996 sentencing.
The botched execution took place at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution.
Pike, 50, was strapped to a gurney in Nashville when the viewing room curtains opened on Wednesday.
Inside The Nashville Execution Chamber
Prison officials administered two doses of pentobarbital, according to court filings from Pike’s defense team. Witnesses in the media viewing room reported hearing Pike complain about discomfort in her arm, stating that My arm feels like it's about to burst open.
Prison officials repeatedly opened and closed the viewing room curtains. Behind the glass, Pike could be heard loudly snoring.
Spiritual advisers were ushered in and out of the room as the hours wore on.
Reporters were eventually ordered to leave the building while Pike appeared to be still breathing despite the injections.
An ambulance with flashing lights subsequently departed from the prison grounds, transporting Pike to an off-site medical facility.
Governor Bill Lee Halts Remaining Executions
Governor Bill Lee issued a statement late Wednesday night announcing an immediate pause on capital punishment across the state and demanding answers from the corrections department.
Lee stated that he had ordered a comprehensive, third-party review to investigate the failure.
Because of the inquiry, the remaining scheduled execution for the year has been postponed.
The incident marks the second time this year that Tennessee has failed to carry out a lethal injection. In May, state officials aborted the execution of Tony Carruthers after executioners tried for more than an hour to place an intravenous line.
Medical Failures Halt Christa Pike Execution
Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution, 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.
Christa Pike’s Legal Team, via The Guardian
Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, called the incident singular and unparalleled. While seven other individuals in the U.S. have survived medical problems due to execution teams failing to access a vein, Maher noted that no one had previously stayed alive after receiving the drugs used in such executions.
Decades-Old Murder Case On Death Row
Pike was convicted for the 1995 torture and beating death of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a classmate at the Knoxville Job Corps vocational center.
Pike, her 17-year-old boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, and 18-year-old Shadolla Peterson lured Slemmer into a wooded area where she was tortured and killed.
The crime garnered nationwide attention due to the brutality of the assault, during which a pentagram was carved into the victim’s chest and Pike kept a fragment of her skull.
Pike confessed to the killing and was convicted of first-degree murder.
Had the execution succeeded, Pike would have become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than two centuries.