Death row inmate still alive after two attempts to execute her by lethal injection

Pike lost consciousness but still had a heartbeat

Christa Pike, 50, was due to be put to death at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on Wednesday evening.

However, the execution was stopped after two doses of pentobarbital failed to kill her.

Pike's lawyers filed an emergency request while the procedure was taking place, saying she had lost consciousness but still had a heartbeat.

They also said she was “audibly snoring” and asked for the execution to be halted so she could receive medical care.

A judge later confirmed that medical staff had begun treating Pike. One of her lawyers told the BBC that she was receiving “life-saving measures” at a hospital.

The attempted execution came after a last-minute legal challenge that reached the US Supreme Court, which ultimately allowed it to go ahead.

Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. 

She was 18 when she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, beat, tortured and killed Slemmer, whom they had met at a training camp for troubled teenagers.

Colleen Slemmer (Image credit: Family handout)

Tennessee has postponed its next planned execution

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has now ordered “a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred”. He also said the state's final planned execution of the year would be postponed.

The Tennessee Department of Correction said officials followed the state's approved procedure and defended the actions taken during the execution attempt.

Dorinda Carter, the department spokesperson, said: "The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective, and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out this evening."

Pike's lawyers have disputed this, pointing to concerns over difficult access to her veins, damaged veins and the condition of the pentobarbital.

“Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution,” they said.

"We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms Pike proved to be true: difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy."

The department confirmed that Pike was taken to an off-site medical facility following the failed execution.