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Witnessing the Failed Execution of Christa Pike: ‘We Could All Hear Her Breathing’
Witnesses said the team struggled for hours to place IV lines, and her lawyers alleged pentobarbital may have entered tissue instead of veins.
- On September 30, Tennessee halted the execution of Christa Pike at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution after medical complications arose. Pike, 50, survived the procedure and was transported to hospital by ambulance, becoming the first woman to face execution in the state in almost 200 years.
- Tennessee had previously botched an execution in May when healthcare workers failed to establish complete IV access into Tony Carruthers, convicted for his involvement in the murders of three people in 1994. Pike's attorneys had warned that her platelet disorder and small veins would make injection painful and ineffective.
- Pike's lawyers alleged in an emergency filing with Davidson County Chancery Court on October 2 that the execution team apparently didn't realize IV lines were not correctly placed or that veins had blown, with pentobarbital entering her body "in whole or in part" instead of her veins. Witnesses heard her breathing for nearly 40 minutes after the curtain closed at 8:16 p.m.
- Governor Bill Lee suspended lethal injections for the remainder of the year and ordered an independent review. Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada announced his resignation, saying stepping aside was "in the best interest" of Tennesseans; Pike remained critically ill on a ventilator at a Nashville hospital.
- Tennessee's execution protocol contains no provisions for a second round of lethal drugs failing to kill a prisoner, making Pike the first person to survive lethal injection in the United States according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, a vocal death penalty supporter, leads the November 3 election to replace Lee, who leaves office in January.
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She lived a tragic life and committed a brutal crime at just 18 years old. But the state failed to kill her. The ethical dilemmas are in store after Christa Pike became the first person to survive an execution attempt.
·Copenhagen, Denmark
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Pike cannot move her arms after a failed execution attempt in Tennessee, they are severely swollen after attempts to inject her with a lethal injection
Pike cannot move her arms after a failed execution attempt in Tennessee, they are severely swollen after attempts to inject her with a lethal injection. This was told by lawyer Randy Spivey.
Coverage Details
Total News Sources30
Leaning Left6Leaning Right5Center9Last UpdatedBias Distribution45% Center
Bias Distribution
- 45% of the sources are Center
45% Center
L 30%
C 45%
R 25%
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