Tennessee officials were unable to carry out the execution of Christa Gail Pike for a 1995 murder on Wednesday, media witnesses said.
Tennessee officials were unable to carry out the execution of Christa Gail Pike by lethal injection Wednesday night after two doses of pentobarbital were administered, according to The Associated Press.
Pike’s attorneys said she was alive and loudly snoring after the attempted execution and was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital. In a late Wednesday statement, the attorneys said they had not been informed of Pike’s condition.
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The attorneys alleged the execution attempt involved difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital and a lack of emergency medical care. They also criticized Tennessee’s execution protocol as secretive. The Tennessee Department of Correction had not publicly responded to those allegations late Wednesday.
Christa Pike’s attorneys Randy Spivey and Kelly Gleason from the Tennessee Office of the Post Conviction Defender, and Stephen Ferrell and Luke Ihnen from Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee's provided the following statement below:
"Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution. 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. Christa is being treated at a nearby hospital. We have not been informed as to her condition."
In a statement, TDOC said officials followed the state's established execution protocol during the attempted lethal injection of Pike.
The department said the pentobarbital used in the protocol has consistently been effective and that the protocol did not permit additional procedures beyond those carried out.
TDOC also confirmed that Pike was transported to an off-site medical facility but did not provide details about her condition or explain why the execution was not completed.
Read TDOC's full statement below:
"The Tennessee Department of Correction 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."
Pike, 50, had been scheduled to die by lethal injection at 10 a.m. for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer. Tennessee has not executed a woman in at least 200 years.
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The execution was delayed for hours after the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay about an hour before it was scheduled to begin. The U.S. Supreme Court later vacated that stay, allowing the execution to proceed.
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AP reported that media witnesses first saw Pike secured to a gurney when curtains to the execution chamber opened at 7:27 p.m. Witnesses said Pike remained awake at one point, raised her head and asked prison officials whether her arm was supposed to feel the way it did. It was not clear what she meant.
By 8:26 p.m., execution witnesses reported that a second dose of pentobarbital had been administered. Pike could then be heard snoring behind a closed curtain until the microphone was cut off at about 8:53 p.m. Media witnesses were then told they would be escorted from the area.
TDOC spokesperson Dorinda Carter told media witnesses she could not immediately provide information about what happened.
Pike's attorneys later filed emergency motions with the U.S. Supreme Court, the 6th Circuit and federal district court, arguing she was in “unnecessary agony” and asking courts to halt the execution process. The filing also requested lifesaving measures.
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Robin M. Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, told AP the incident was “singular and unparalleled.”
It was Tennessee’s second unsuccessful execution procedure this year. In May, officials called off Tony Carruthers’ lethal injection after the execution team was unable to establish IV access.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said in a statement that he has ordered “a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred” and that the remaining scheduled execution will not take place this year.
“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,” he said.
Pike was convicted in the fatal stabbing and beating of Slemmer, 19, in 1995. AP contributed to this report.
