A scheduled execution in Tennessee, United States, has failed after death row inmate Christa Pike remained alive following two injections administered as part of the execution process. Pike, 50, was still breathing and had a heartbeat after two doses of pentobarbital were administered at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on Wednesday. Her lawyers subsequently filed an emergency motion seeking to stop the execution and secure medical treatment for her.
According to Pike's lawyers, she had lost consciousness but continued to have a heartbeat and was audibly breathing after the injections. One of Pike's lawyers told the BBC that she was receiving life-saving treatment at a hospital. A medical expert working with Pike's defence team, Dr Joel Zivot of Emory University School of Medicine, said she may not have received enough pentobarbital into her bloodstream to cause the respiratory and cardiovascular failure expected during an execution.
Dr Zivot also raised concerns that a delay in starting emergency treatment could have caused brain injury. Tennessee officials, however, said they followed the state's approved execution protocol. The state's Department of Correction confirmed that Pike was transported to an off-site medical facility following the attempted execution.
Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, whom she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, attacked and killed in 1995 at a job training camp for young people in Knoxville. Pike's execution had faced several legal challenges, with her lawyers arguing that mitigating evidence, including her history of childhood sexual abuse and other difficulties she experienced as a teenager, had not been properly considered when she was sentenced to death.
A lower court had temporarily halted the execution while considering arguments from her legal team, but the US Supreme Court later overturned the pause, allowing Tennessee to proceed. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee had also rejected Pike's clemency request earlier in the week. Pike is the only woman currently on Tennessee's death row.
According to the Death Penalty Information Centre, 18 women have been executed in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Pike's case has garnered significant attention due to the unusual circumstances of the failed execution. The incident has raised questions about the efficacy and humanity of the death penalty in the United States.
The failed execution has also sparked renewed debate about the use of the death penalty in the US, with many arguing that it is a flawed and inhumane system. Pike's lawyers and supporters have called for her sentence to be commuted to life in prison, citing concerns about her mental health and the trauma she experienced during the execution attempt.
Key points
- The execution of Christa Pike was halted due to her survival of two fatal injections.
- Pike's lawyers argued that mitigating evidence, including her history of childhood sexual abuse, was not properly considered during her sentencing.
- The incident has sparked renewed debate about the use of the death penalty in the US.
