Tennessee halts executions after death row inmate Christa Pike survives hers

What the report says

Tennessee has halted all executions for the rest of the year after prison officials failed twice to carry out the execution of death row inmate Christa Pike by lethal injection. Governor Bill Lee said he has ordered an outside review to determine what happened, while also describing executions as one of the state’s most serious duties. The pause will also affect a planned 3 December execution of another prisoner, Gary Sutton.

According to the BBC, Tennessee Department of Correction staff attempted to administer two doses of pentobarbital to Pike on Wednesday, but she survived and was taken to hospital. Her condition was not disclosed. Pike, now 50, was sentenced to death in 1996 for the killing of Colleen Slemmer. The case has drawn attention because Pike would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.

Pike’s lawyers said in court filings that she required life-saving measures after the botched execution. The state corrections department defended its actions, saying it followed the approved execution protocol and had completed every required step. The incident comes after another failed Tennessee execution attempt earlier this year, when officials were unable to establish a vein for the lethal drug. The repeated breakdowns are likely to intensify scrutiny of the state’s execution procedures and the broader debate over capital punishment.