Christa Pike refused her last meal and asked for the $20 set aside for it to be used to buy pizza for homeless people, shortly before two lethal injections failed to execute her.
Pike had been offered the chance to choose a final meal but instead requested that the money be redirected. The request was for the food to be given to homeless people.
Her execution in Tennessee did not proceed as planned. After receiving two lethal injections, Pike complained of pain in her arm before becoming unconscious and beginning to snore.
She was taken to a local hospital, where her lawyers said she remained unconscious and required a ventilator.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has halted the only other execution scheduled in the state this year while a third party investigates what went wrong.
A blood condition diagnosed in Pike may have contributed to the failed execution. Dr Joel Zivot, who examined her, said her thrombocytosis may have caused a clot that stopped the pentobarbital from spreading through her body and killing her.
