Tennessee death row inmate in hospital after failed execution

Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike was taken to a hospital on Thursday after authorities failed to carry out her execution, according to her lawyers. Witnesses said Pike was breathing despite receiving two injections of pentobarbital intended to kill her.

Pike’s attorneys issued a statement: “Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution.” They added, “Christa is being treated at a nearby hospital. We have not been informed as to her condition.”

The execution was scheduled for 10:00 a.m. at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution. Journalists were present. Investigative journalist John North told WBIR, “It appears this did not go how this was supposed to go.” He added, “When we left the building, so far as we knew, she was probably still alive.” An ambulance with flashing lights was seen leaving the site, but it was unclear if Pike was inside.

Supreme court cleared execution hours earlier

The US Supreme Court had cleared the way for the execution just hours before. Liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, saying the court’s decision “unnecessarily prevents that [lower] court from giving due consideration to Pike’s claim” and grants extraordinary relief “solely to allow the State to execute Pike before litigation over her conviction has properly run its course in the lower courts.”

Pike was 18 when she and her boyfriend beat and killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer at a job training camp. The killing drew national attention after Slemmer’s body was found with a pentagram carved in her chest. Pike’s lawyers had sought clemency, arguing she was young and mentally ill at the time. Governor Bill Lee said he would not intervene.

Tennessee corrections officials did not publicly confirm the outcome. Governor Lee said the state will halt another execution planned for later this year and called for a “comprehensive, third-party review” of the botched execution.