Tennessee death row inmate Christa Gail Pike was reportedly still alive and in “agony” Wednesday night after the state was unable to complete her execution following 2 lethal injections, according to a motion obtained by USA Today
Pike’s attorneys said execution witnesses reported at about 8:26 p.m. that both syringes had been given, but Pike was still alive and “snoring.” They argued that the continued execution attempt was causing her additional physical and mental suffering and asked the Tennessee Department of Correction to begin lifesaving measures.
Witnesses were later asked to leave the execution area while Pike was apparently still alive. Pike was transported to a hospital and is receiving medical care, according to a court filing.
As of about 10:10 p.m. Wednesday, it was unclear whether Pike had died.
The development followed a lengthy legal battle over whether the execution could proceed. The U.S. Supreme Court had cleared the way earlier Wednesday by overturning a stay issued by a federal appeals court.
Pike had originally been scheduled to receive a lethal injection at 10 a.m., but the execution was delayed for hours while courts reviewed claims from her attorneys concerning the sexual abuse she suffered as a child.
The Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had issued the stay after Pike’s attorneys argued that jurors at her 1996 trial were not given the opportunity to fully consider evidence about her abusive childhood when deciding whether she should receive the death penalty.
The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office appealed the stay to the Supreme Court, which granted the request shortly before 6 p.m., allowing the execution to proceed before midnight.
Pike’s attorneys opposed the Supreme Court’s decision, arguing that carrying out the execution before the abuse claims were fully reviewed would cause irreversible harm.
Pike, 50, was convicted of killing 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995 and was sentenced to death after her 1996 conviction.
Pike is the only woman on Tennessee’s death row. If the execution is completed, she would become the first woman executed by Tennessee in more than 200 years.