Christa Pike is still unconscious after a failed execution attempt in Tennessee, according to a court filing by her lawyers. Medical staff are working to stabilise Pike and clear the lethal drug from her system, they added.
The execution, scheduled for Wednesday at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, was intended to make Pike the first woman executed by lethal injection in Tennessee in 200 years. The US Supreme Court had recently allowed the execution to proceed.
Pike’s attorneys believe an issue with the intravenous lines caused the lethal drug pentobarbital to enter her tissue rather than her bloodstream. Despite this, officials proceeded to administer a backup dose. The lawyers stated that the execution team did not realise the IV lines were incorrectly positioned or that the veins had been damaged.
READ MORE: Bath Rugby edge past Exeter Chiefs in thrilling West Country derby
READ MORE: Somerset man honours late wife by raising ovarian cancer awareness
Tennessee state officials have not provided an explanation for what went wrong during the procedure. In response, Governor Bill Lee ordered an independent review of the execution protocols, postponed Pike’s execution indefinitely, and delayed another scheduled execution for this year.
Several Republican politicians in Tennessee have called for reconsidering the use of single-drug lethal injections and exploring alternative methods to carry out death sentences.
Pike’s defence lawyer, Randy Spivey, said the execution team used at least seven needles over an hour trying to administer the drugs to her left arm. Neither the initial nor the backup dose of pentobarbital took effect, and Pike was snoring when the execution chamber’s microphone was cut off more than an hour into the process.
Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for murdering 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995. Slemmer’s mother described the botched execution as a “mess” in an interview with NBC News.