WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After an attempt to execute Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike by two lethal injections failed, Governor Bill Lee halted the remaining executions in the state for the rest of the year.
Gov. Bill Lee said he has ordered for a 'comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred' during Christa Pike's attempted execution.
Lee said that '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.'
Christa Gail Pike was convicted in 1996 for murdering her 19-year-old Job Corps classmate Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. At the age of 20, Pike was sentenced to death, making her one of the youngest women to be sentenced to death in the United States during the post-Furman period.
Pike's attempted execution took place at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville Wednesday night.
After two syringes of the lethal drugs were injected on Wednesday, Pike's legal team filed an emergency motion with the Tennessee Supreme Court. Pike's lawyer, Kelly Gleason, stated that while Pike is 'alive and snoring,' she 'needs immediate medical care.
Reports say that media witnesses were escorted out of the building at 8:53 pm, stating that the curtains had gone down twice and that she was still alive, snoring for 40 minutes after the final dose of pentobarbital was administered. Pike did not lose consciousness and maintained a heartbeat during the attempted execution and the procedure was declared botched. She was taken away from the prison in an ambulance.
The Tennessee Department of Correction said it 'followed every step of the State's lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General's Office.'
'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. Christa Pike has been transported to an off-site medical facility,' department spokesperson Dorinda Carter said in a statement.
This was the second failed execution of the year in Tennessee. In May, after the doctor failed to find a vein to administer a lethal drug for the execution of convicted murderer Tony Carruthers, his capital punishment was later granted a one-year reprieve.
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