Christa Pike Survives Two Lethal Injections in Failed Execution

Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike is still alive after two lethal injections failed to end her life during an execution attempt that left her hospitalised.

Pike, who is now 50, was administered two doses of pentobarbital at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on Wednesday night, but Tennessee officials were unable to complete the execution. She was later taken to an off-site medical facility for treatment.

The extraordinary development came after a series of last-minute legal battles over whether Pike should be executed for a 1995 murder committed when she was 18.

Two injections fail to end execution

Pike’s legal team filed emergency motions as the execution unfolded, seeking to halt the process and have her receive medical care.

Media witnesses reported that the curtains separating the execution chamber from the viewing room were closed twice during the procedure.

After the second dose, witnesses could hear Pike snoring before they were eventually escorted from the facility.

Tennessee’s Department of Correction said officials followed every step of the state’s approved execution protocol.

The department confirmed Pike had been transported to an off-site medical facility but did not disclose further details about her condition.

Her lawyers, however, questioned how the procedure was carried out and raised concerns about access to her veins, the condition of the drug and the availability of emergency medical care.

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Those claims remain allegations from her legal team and have not been independently established.

The failed execution followed an earlier court battle that briefly halted the procedure before the US Supreme Court cleared the way for Tennessee to proceed.

Pike had argued that evidence relating to her childhood sexual abuse had not been adequately considered when she was sentenced to death.

Pike sentenced to death over 1995 murder

Pike was 18 when she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, attacked 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, whom they had met at a job training camp for troubled teenagers in Knoxville.

Slemmer was beaten and tortured before she was killed in January 1995. Pike was convicted and sentenced to death in 1996.

The case drew widespread attention after an inverted pentagram was found carved into Slemmer’s body with Pike denying having carved the symbol.

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Shipp, who was 17 at the time of the killing, was also convicted and received a life sentence with the possibility of parole. Pike became the only person involved in the killing sentenced to death.

Ahead of the execution, Pike sought clemency from Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, but her request was denied.

She had acknowledged responsibility for Slemmer’s death while asking officials to consider her age, history of abuse and other circumstances surrounding the crime.

Pike was scheduled to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. Instead, she remains alive after the state administered two doses of the lethal-injection drug and failed to complete the execution.

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Photo of Christa Pike and her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp. PHOTO/ Newsner