A Tennessee death row inmate is in critical condition in hospital after surviving a botched execution involving two doses of a lethal injection drug, prompting the state's governor to suspend all executions for the remainder of the year and order an independent review.
Christa Pike, 50, was taken to hospital by ambulance after the execution attempt on Wednesday. Her lawyers said on Thursday that she was receiving life-saving medical care, but her prognosis remained unclear.
"We don't have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment," her lawyer Randy Spivey told reporters. "But we do know that she is alive right now," he said, as quoted by BBC News.
Lawyers Call Execution Attempt 'Torturous'
Pike's lawyers described the execution attempt as 'cruel and torturous' and urged Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute her death sentence to life imprisonment. They argued that the failed attempt, during which she was administered two doses of pentobarbital, should prompt authorities to reconsider her punishment.
Guv Suspends Executions, Orders Probe
Governor Lee announced a suspension of executions, including Pike's, to allow an independent review of the incident. He said the failure 'shouldn't have happened' and called for an investigation to determine what went wrong and what changes were necessary.
The governor said it was not immediately clear who would conduct the review. He added that the Tennessee Department of Correction appeared to have followed its established procedures, though the circumstances surrounding the failed execution remain under investigation.
According to Spivey, prison officials took about an hour to establish an intravenous line for the lethal injection. He said he counted seven needles used in Pike's left arm alone. Authorities have not publicly established why the execution attempt failed.
Pike, Her Boyfriend Killed 19-Year-Old Girl
Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Pike was 18 at the time of the crime and was convicted of torturing and killing Slemmer alongside her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, and another friend.
According to accounts of the crime presented during the case, the victim was attacked with a box cutter, a pentagram was carved into her chest, and a piece of her skull was removed.
Pike Faced Historic Execution
Pike was due to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. Her lawyers had previously sought a commutation of her sentence, but Governor Lee had rejected an earlier request.
Slemmer's mother, May Martinez, has long supported Pike's execution and previously expressed concern that her daughter's death had been forgotten.
