Christa Pike: What happens if you survive death penalty, lethal injection doesn't work? Details as Colleen Slemmer accused killer taken to hospital
Christa Pike’s execution for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer did not reach the end even after Pike was injected with two doses of pentobarbital, according to Kelly Avellino of Fox News.
Christa Gail Pike, Colleen Slemmer accused killer lay awake even after she was injected with two doses of pentobarbital.(Photo by Handout / Tennessee Department of Correction / AFP) (AFP)Witnesses reported that Pike was still awake 40 minutes after the she was given the dosage. They also described the execution as unusually prolonged process and that “nothing we saw was normal.”
According to journalists present inside the execution chamber, curtains were drawn multiple times while Pike reportedly continued showing signs of life, ABC News reported.
Pike is now being taken to the hospital, Avellino reported.
Pike had been scheduled for execution at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on September 30. Her execution was briefly delayed by a last-minute stay before the US Supreme Court cleared it to proceed later that day.
According to Pike’s attorneys, prison staff administered two syringes containing pentobarbital.
However, the emergency filing alleged she never lost consciousness completely and continued to have a heartbeat after the drugs were delivered. The lawyers requested an immediate halt to the execution and argued Pike required emergency medical treatment.
Associated Press reporter Kim Chandler said, “The blinds were closed for the first time to the execution chamber at 7:46pm, they opened again at 7:49pm.”
Chandler further added, “Her mouth fell open a few times and she began to loudly snore. She gasped a few times.”
According to Chandler the curtain was drawn again at 8:06 pm. “She could be heard loudly snoring, clearly very alive, in the chamber until media witnesses were told to leave the area at about 8:53pm,” Chandler said.
The US Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. When executions encounter unexpected complications, courts often examine whether execution protocols were properly followed and whether constitutional protections were violated. However, there is no automatic legal rule preventing a state from continuing or rescheduling an execution simply because the first attempt was unsuccessful.
Lauren Collins of LA Mag reported, “If Christa Pike doesn’t die by midnight, Tennessee will have to go through the legal process to obtain and set another execution date.”
Shirin Gupta is a content producer with the Hindustan Times. She covers everything between politics, entertainment and sports at the US desk. Shirin got interested in political journalism during her time as a web editor at her college newspaper NCC News in Syracuse when she first started seeing the effects of national politics in life of her fellow colleagues. Shirin has worked on a wide range of fast-moving and developing stories locally when she was at NCC editing accessible reports for the audience. Her current role requires her to track real-time updates, verify information and present balanced coverage across diverse beats. Covering US politics from an international newsroom perspective has further deepened her understanding of how domestic decisions can have far-reaching global consequences. With a keen interest in international affairs, Shirin continues to build her expertise in geopolitics, policy shifts, and cross-border developments. She aims to learn and evolve her reporting in matters of geopolitics and international issues. Outside the newsroom Shirin writes about books and music for her personal blog. She is an avid consumer of pop culture and reveres literature.Read More
