American female prisoner's execution failed: Still alive after two doses of drugs, what will happen next?

American female inmate execution fails: Still alive after two doses of drugs, what happens next? - Author, James FitzGerald - Author, Kayla Epstein - Published - Reading time: 3 minutes An American female inmate was sentenced to death but survived two fatal drug injections and is currently hospitalized and in critical condition. This is the second instance of a botched death sentence execution in the state within six months, and Governor Bill Lee has ordered a third-party investigation and suspended the execution of other death sentences in Tennessee for the remainder of the year. The female inmate in this case is named Christa Pike, a convicted murderer sentenced to death in 1996. Legal battles have already taken place regarding her execution, and now there is a new series of problems. Where did the mistake occur? And what will happen next? Surviving after two injections, where was the problem? Christa Pike is currently 50 years old. She was sentenced to death in 1996 for murdering 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995. Her execution was scheduled for the evening of Wednesday (September 30th) in Tennessee. The Supreme Court of the United States approved the authorities to carry out the injection of the death penalty at the last moment before the execution. Pike was injected with two doses of pentobarbital, but her legal team stated that the injections did not stop her heartbeat and she could still be heard snoring. The Tennessee Department of Corrections defended its method of execution, stating that "procedural rules do not allow for further procedures beyond those already executed." According to the Associated Press, the state government's current regulations do not explicitly state what should happen if the inmate still survives after the second dose of drugs. Authorities have not indicated whether they will attempt to execute Pike again, nor have they explained why the injection doses ultimately did not cause death. Death penalty opponents argue that because part of Pike's execution process took place behind a curtain and other parts were not public, it is difficult to determine what went wrong. Maya Foa, Executive Director of the international legal organization Reprieve, stated: "The lethal injection relied on secrecy from beginning to end to conceal the violence of the state taking a human life." What happens next? The Tennessee Department of Corrections stated that Pike has been transferred to an out-of-state medical facility. One of her lawyers said on Wednesday that she is receiving "life-sustaining measures" in the hospital. Lawyer Randy Spivey told the media on Thursday: "We still do not know her condition, and there is no much new information about her health." Dr. Joel Zivot of Emory University School of Medicine told the BBC via email: "Due to the delay in starting resuscitation, she (Pike) may have suffered brain damage." John Mills, a lawyer who has represented death row inmates for a long time, stated that historically, the Supreme Court of the United States has never prevented attempts to carry out a second execution. In 2024, the court allowed the state of Alabama to execute Kenneth Eugene Smith again, using an experimental asphyxiation method; two years prior, the authorities had administered a drug injection to execute him but it failed. In 1947, a Supreme Court ruling allowed the state of Louisiana to place Willie Francis on the electric chair again, and he was executed for the first time at age 17. The court ruled that a second execution did not violate the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy or cruel and unusual punishments, and Francis was ultimately executed at age 18. Speaking about this Pike case, Mills said: "If the question is whether the federal court can intervene to stop a second execution, I fear the answer is very clear: no." What is the drug "pentobarbital"? Pentobarbital is a powerful sedative that slows down bodily functions, including nervous system activity. Doctors sometimes use pentobarbital to treat certain diseases, but at high doses, it can be used as a drug to cause death by injection. Last year, the U.S. federal government, during the Biden administration, re-ignited public concern about the use of this drug for administering the death penalty after an investigation. The investigation pointed out that this drug may cause "unnecessary pain and torture." The Biden administration therefore banned the use of this drug for federal level death penalty executions, but this ban does not apply to state governments like Tennessee, which have the autonomy to decide on the method of execution. In recent years, the difficulty for states to obtain drugs for death penalty executions has increased due to opposition from pharmaceutical companies that object to their products being used for execution purposes. The Tennessee Department of Corrections has not directly responded to Pike's legal team. Pike's lawyer questioned whether the pentobarbital used for the execution might have been adulterated, thus affecting its efficacy. Have similar incidents occurred before? This is not the first botched death sentence execution in Tennessee this year. The previous incident involved an inmate named Tony Carruthers, who was convicted for kidnapping and murdering three people in 1994. His execution was scheduled for May of this year but was postponed because staff could not find veins suitable for injection. The governor approved a one-year postponement of the execution. According to the Death Penalty Information Center statistics, over one-third of all death penalty executions in the United States in 2022 involved errors or serious problems. Who were the victims of the murder? Who was Colleen Slemmer, whom Pike murdered in 1995? They met in a "problem youth" vocational camp. The chest of Slemmer's body was carved with a pentagram, a symbol often associated with satanic cults. Pike accused Colleen of insulting her and trying to take her then-17-year-old boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp. The other two residents of the camp later testified that Pike boasted about this murder and showed them a piece of Colleen's skull. Colleen's mother, May Martinez, told People magazine that she and her husband Raul Martinez came to watch the execution 11 hours before in Florida. "I hope she (Pike) remembers who Colleen was, and what they did to her, and never forget it no matter where she goes." she said. Pike's co-conspirator, Tadaryl Shipp, was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole and is currently serving his sentence. Since he was not of legal age at the time of the crime, he was spared execution. We used artificial intelligence to assist with the translation; the original text is in English. The BBC reporter checked the translation before publication.