Female death row inmate survives two 'botched' lethal injections, taken to hospital - National Post

Christa Pike, now 50, was 18 when she and her boyfriend beat and killed Colleen Slemmer, 19, at a job training camp for young people. Photo by Handout/Tennessee Department of CorrectionsArticle contentA Tennessee woman convicted of murder survived two lethal injection doses and was hospitalized on Thursday, her lawyers said, marking the state’s second failed execution in months and prompting it to halt capital punishment this year.

Hours earlier on Wednesday, the Supreme Court cleared the way for Christa Pike, 50, to become the first woman to be executed in the southern U.S. state of Tennessee in 200 years — but the attempt failed.

“This event is the worst we’ve seen and unlike any other botched execution in the modern era,” Robin Maher, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, told the New York Times. “There is no precedent.”

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The Tennessee Department of Correction said that it “followed every step of the state’s lawful, established execution protocol”, adding that Pike was subsequently taken to an “off-site medical facility.”

Her attorneys said she was transported to a nearby hospital, adding they have not been informed as to her condition.

“Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution,” the attorneys said in a statement.

Tennessee halted the execution by lethal injection of Tony Carruthers in May after medical staff were unable to tap a vein.

Governor Bill Lee called for a “comprehensive, third-party review” after Pike’s failed execution.

“The remaining scheduled execution will not be carried out this year,” Lee said — apparently referencing the execution of convicted killer Gary Wayne Sutton scheduled for December 3.

Pike was scheduled for execution at 10 a.m. at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, where witnesses, including journalists, were present for the administration of the injections.