A dramatic turn of events unfolded at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on Wednesday, as Christa Gail Pike, 50, remained alive after the execution procedure. Pike had been set to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. The execution attempt involved administering two doses of pentobarbital, but Pike continued to have a heartbeat and could still be heard breathing and loudly snoring afterwards.
According to court filings by her lawyers, officials administered two doses of pentobarbital during the execution attempt. Media witnesses watching the procedure said the curtains to the execution chamber were raised at about 7:27 p.m., revealing Pike strapped to a gurney. She initially remained conscious and, at one point, raised her head and questioned officials about discomfort in her arm.
Witnesses said Pike could still be heard snoring after the curtains were closed, with the sound continuing until the chamber microphone was eventually switched off shortly before 9 p.m. Her lawyers rushed to court during the unfolding execution, filing emergency applications seeking to stop authorities from continuing the procedure. They argued that Pike was being subjected to unnecessary suffering and that continuing the execution would violate constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.
The Tennessee Department of Correction maintained that officials followed the state’s approved execution protocol. The protocol provides for a second set of lethal drugs to be administered if a prisoner remains alive after the first, but does not specify what officials should do if the person survives the second dose. Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, described what happened to Pike as unprecedented.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee subsequently halted the state’s remaining execution for the year and ordered an independent review into what went wrong. Lee said carrying out a death sentence was one of the state’s most serious responsibilities and had to be done legally, constitutionally and effectively. Pike’s execution had already experienced dramatic legal twists earlier in the day, with a last-minute stay issued by the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, her classmate at a Job Corps training facility in Knoxville. Prosecutors said Pike, who was 18 at the time, feared Slemmer was a romantic rival and lured her to a secluded location, where she was tortured and killed. The case gained national attention because of its brutality, including a pentagram carved into Slemmer’s body.
Pike has not denied her involvement in the killing, but her lawyers have argued that her age at the time, untreated mental illness and history of severe abuse should have weighed more heavily against imposing the death penalty. She was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. Pike was taken away from the prison by ambulance for medical treatment after the failed execution attempt.
Key points
- Christa Pike, 50, is the first woman to survive an execution attempt in the United States in recent history.
- The Tennessee Department of Correction is under scrutiny for following the state’s approved execution protocol.
- Pike’s case has raised questions about the use of the death penalty and the treatment of inmates with mental health issues.
