Death row inmate Christa Pike, 50. [Reuters]
Death row inmate Christa Pike, 50. [Reuters]

Tennessee's attempt to execute its first female death row inmate in more than two centuries failed after two doses of a lethal drug left the prisoner alive.

Tennessee corrections officials administered two doses of the sedative pentobarbital to death row inmate Christa Pike, 50, at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on Wednesday night (local time), according to the Associated Press, NBC and other US media outlets.

According to Pike's attorneys, she lost consciousness after the injections but her heart kept beating and she began snoring loudly. She was then transported by ambulance to a medical facility outside the prison.

Defense attorney Spivy, who witnessed the execution, said the execution team spent more than an hour trying to establish an intravenous line, using at least seven needles in Pike's left arm alone.

Because Pike remained conscious after the first dose, a second was administered. Spivy said it was "apparent that Pike was still breathing" even after the second injection.

An ambulance arrives at the prison after the failed execution. [AP]
An ambulance arrives at the prison after the failed execution. [AP]

Pike is currently in critical condition receiving treatment. Her attorneys said her right arm turned purple after the second injection and that blisters and burns developed around the injection sites.

Tennessee's execution protocol requires a second dose of the drug if the inmate does not die after the first, but it does not specify what procedures to follow if the inmate survives the second dose as well.

The Tennessee Department of Correction said in a statement that it "followed all steps of the state's lawful execution protocol as approved by the attorney general's office."

According to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, Pike is the first person in the modern era to survive after receiving lethal injection drugs. Seven others had previously survived execution attempts, but in all those cases problems arose during preparation of the intravenous line and the drugs were never administered.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee issued a statement saying he had ordered "a comprehensive third-party review to determine exactly what happened." Lee also suspended all remaining executions scheduled for this year.

Following the failed execution, Pike's attorneys filed an emergency motion with the Tennessee Supreme Court seeking a halt and stay of execution. They argued that Pike had suffered "unnecessary pain" and that her right against cruel and unusual punishment had been violated.

Pike was sentenced to death for the torture and murder of Colleen Slemmer, a fellow resident of the Job Corps vocational training program in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1995, when Pike was 18.

This is the second failed execution in Tennessee this year. On May 21, the lethal injection of Tony Carruthers — sentenced to death for the kidnapping and murder of three people in 1994 — was called off after the execution team spent more than an hour unable to find a vein. Gov. Lee granted Carruthers a one-year reprieve.


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