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The governor of Tennessee has ordered an investigation after an attempt to execute Christa Pike went horribly awry.
The 50-year-old required immediate medical attention after the lethal injection, given at about 8:48 p.m. CT, failed.
‘Veiled in secrecy’
Pike’s lawyers, Kelly Gleason and Randy Spivey, filed an emergency motion to halt and stay the execution after she was administered two syringes of pentobarbital but remained alive, WVLT reported.
“Ms. Pike has not lost consciousness and still has a heartbeat and is audibly snoring,” they wrote in the motion.
“Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution,” her lawyers said in a statement, issued about two hours after the botched injection.
“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.”
They noted that their client was “being treated at a nearby hospital,” and her condition was unknown, their statement continued.
‘Followed every step’
As of early Thursday, Pike’s location and condition were unclear. What was clear is that the execution did not go as planned.
State corrections officials put out a statement late Wednesday, insisting they followed Tennessee’s “execution protocol” but acknowledged it did not immediately kill Pike.
“The Tennessee Department of Correction followed every step of the state’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office,” the statement read, per USA Today .
“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.”
‘We have a lot of questions’
Witnesses, including media, were escorted out of the prison soon after the attempted execution, per The Tennessean .
A WBIR reporter said he heard Pike’s breathing become laboured, while WKRN’s Tori Gessner said she heard Pike say “My arm feels like it’s about to burst open.”
Gessner, who has witnessed several executions, added, “Nothing about today was normal, typical, at all.”
“We have a lot of questions,” the WBIR reporter said during a news conference. “And the (Tennessee Department of Correction) has a lot of answers it needs to provide the public.”
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit halted Pike’s execution in a 2-1 decision about an hour before it was scheduled to begin on Wednesday.
The court said it needed time to determine whether Pike’s latest filing, in which she asked the court to consider her history of childhood sexual and physical abuse, should return to federal district court or be treated as a second habeas petition subject to strict legal limits, according to The Tennessean .
Tennessee immediately asked the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate the stay, and the justices decided 6-3 that the execution could go as planned.
Sentenced nearly 32 years ago
Pike was sentenced to death for the January 1995 murder of 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer.
Pike, then 18, her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, and their friend, Shadolla Peterson lured Slemmer to a wooded area on the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville and tortured her to death.
She would have been the first woman put to death by Tennessee in more than 200 years.
Governor launches probe
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said shortly before midnight that he ordered an investigation into what went wrong and has postponed the state’s other execution scheduled for this year.
Convicted killer Gary Wayne Sutton’s execution was set for Dec. 3.
“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,” Lee said, per USA Today .
“I have ordered a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred.”