Christa Pike remained alive and audibly snoring for more than an hour after receiving two doses of lethal-injection drugs at a Tennessee prison, in an execution that her lawyers said had gone wrong.
Pike, 50, was given pentobarbital at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville shortly before 7.30pm on Wednesday. Her lawyers later said she had not lost consciousness and still had a heartbeat.
Emergency responders were seen arriving at the prison, and court filings indicated that Pike had been taken to a local hospital for medical care. Her condition was not immediately clear.
“She’s alive and snoring,” attorney Kelley Gleason said, relaying information from another member of Pike’s legal team who was present in the death chamber.
Execution delayed by court intervention
Pike had been scheduled to die at 10am for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. The execution was delayed for several hours after the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a stay.
The US Supreme Court overturned that order shortly before 6pm, allowing Tennessee officials to proceed. Pike was due to become the first woman executed in the state for more than 200 years.
Media witnesses said the curtains to the execution chamber opened at 7.26pm. Pike sang with her spiritual adviser and made her final remarks before saying that her arm felt as though it was about to burst open.
The curtain was closed at 7.46pm and reopened three minutes later. Pike could then be heard snoring loudly. The curtain was closed again at 8.06pm, and the sound continued until the microphone was cut off at about 8.53pm.
Her lawyers said the state had “once again failed to carry out a lawful execution”, citing concerns about difficult vein access, damaged veins, the condition of the pentobarbital and the lack of emergency medical care under a protocol they said was secretive.
An emergency motion filed by Pike’s legal team argued that she was suffering “unnecessary agony” and that the execution amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. The lawyers asked that lifesaving treatment begin.
Federal Judge Clifton L Corker subsequently said medical personnel had begun administering care requested in the motion. A further emergency application was also filed with the US Supreme Court seeking to halt the execution.
Concerns over Pike’s medical condition
Pike’s lawyers had warned before the execution that her thrombocytosis, a blood disorder, could increase clotting and pain. They also argued that her veins were difficult to access, potentially prolonging the procedure.
State prosecutors disputed those claims. Haematologist Dr Richard Mansour testified that Pike’s recent medical history showed her veins were accessible and that staff had completed nearly all recent blood draws with a single needle stick.
Senior Judge Mark Ward concluded that the evidence did not demonstrate a substantial risk of severe pain arising from Pike’s veins or blood disorder.
The incident came four months after Tennessee halted the execution of Tony Carruthers when medical staff were unable to establish a backup intravenous line.
Pike was convicted in March 1996 of killing Slemmer, a Knoxville Job Corps student. Prosecutors said Pike, her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp and accomplice Shadolla Peterson lured Slemmer to a wooded area, where she was stabbed and beaten.
Pike and Shipp were convicted of first-degree murder. Pike was sentenced to death, while Shipp received life imprisonment with the possibility of parole. Peterson, who acted as a lookout, received probation in exchange for her co-operation.
Pike has not denied responsibility for the killing. Her lawyers had argued that she was an 18-year-old with untreated mental illness who had experienced severe abuse and neglect, but Governor Bill Lee declined to intervene after reviewing her clemency request.
