Tennessee officials were unable to execute death row inmate Christa Pike on Wednesday night after she remained alive following two doses of a lethal injection drug, according to court filings from her attorneys.
In 1996, a court sentenced Christa Pike to death for the torture and murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. On Wednesday, the now 50-year-old Christa was set to be executed by lethal injection. But despite receiving two lethal injections, she survived the execution and was taken to a hospital.
The failed execution prompted Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to halt the state’s remaining scheduled execution this year and order “a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred.” Pike was taken to a hospital by ambulance for treatment, her attorneys said.
Christa is alive and undergoing treatment. Her condition is unclear.
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Witnesses said Pike was strapped to a gurney when the curtains to the execution chamber were raised at 7:27 p.m. local time. In what were expected to be her final words, Pike said she was “at peace.”
But the execution did not proceed as expected. Pike remained awake and at one point raised her head, asking prison officials whether her arm was supposed to feel that way.
At 8:26 p.m. local time, witnesses said the executioners had “injected both syringes of lethal injection chemicals, and Pike is still alive and snoring,” her lawyers said in a federal court filing, according to The Associated Press.
Pike’s attorneys said in emergency court filings that she “has not lost consciousness and still has a heartbeat,” arguing that the attempted execution was causing “unnecessary agony.”
At 8:53 p.m., media witnesses were escorted from the area after Pike could still be heard snoring behind the closed curtain.
After two doses, there was no guidance, so they rushed her to a hospital.
Christa Pike brutally tortured and murdered her friend when she was 18 years old for allegedly stealing her boyfriend. She smashed the girl’s skull and kept a piece as a souvenir. Pike suffered a brutal childhood of rapes and abuse.
The prison said that it followed every lawful step in the execution.
Nothing about this was normal.