The execution of Christa Pike in the United States “did not take place”; the woman is in hospital after two lethal injections
Kyiv • UNN
Christa Pike was convicted of murdering a classmate in 1995. After two doses of pentobarbital, she remained alive and was hospitalized.
In the United States, death-row inmate Christa Gail Pike survived after two doses of a lethal drug were administered to her; the woman is in hospital, UNN reports.
Details
On Wednesday, September 30, 50-year-old Christa Pike was scheduled to be executed in the U.S. state of Tennessee. She had been sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of a classmate.
However, on the same day, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit stayed Pike’s execution several hours before the sentence was to be carried out.
The court stated that "in order to properly consider and resolve the issues currently before this court, and after carefully weighing all the circumstances, we find that a stay of Pike’s execution is necessary. A stay of execution is an equitable remedy. Accordingly, it is hereby ordered: the execution of the applicant’s death sentence is stayed pending further order of this court.
That same evening, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the appeals court’s decision. The stay was overturned by conservative Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who did not explain his decision. Three liberal members of the court—Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson—dissented.
After the court’s decision, the execution procedure resumed; however, according to media reports, Christa Pike survived an attempt to execute her by lethal injection.
Pike’s condition after the ordeal was not immediately known, and it was unclear what legal avenues her attorneys or the state might pursue after she was taken for treatment from the Riverbend maximum-security facility in Nashville.
It was also reported that Pike was given two injections. Execution witnesses said that at 7:27 p.m. local time, officials raised the curtains of the execution chamber, revealing Pike strapped to a gurney.
"I will leave this world the way I have lived most of my life—with love," she said in her "last" words.
She said that she felt at peace.
However, Pike remained conscious and at one point raised her head and asked prison officials whether her arm was supposed to feel that way. It was unclear what exactly she was referring to.
At 8:26 p.m., execution witnesses reported that a second dose of pentobarbital had been administered. Pike’s snoring could still be heard behind the closed curtain until the microphone was turned off at 8:53 p.m. At that moment, an announcement was made that media witnesses were to be escorted from the room.
This is the second time this year that Tennessee has been unable to carry out an execution: in May, state officials canceled the lethal injection of Tony Carruthers, who had been sentenced for kidnapping and murdering three people in 1994, after execution personnel spent more than an hour unsuccessfully attempting to establish an IV line to administer pentobarbital.
The Tennessee Department of Correction said it had followed every step of the established execution protocol approved by the state attorney general’s office.
"The chemical for lethal injection specified by the protocol has always been effective, and the protocol does not provide for any additional procedures beyond those carried out this evening. Christa Pike was transported to a medical facility outside the institution," the statement said.
What is known about Christa Pike’s case
Pike and her boyfriend were convicted of murdering 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, with whom they attended school in Knoxville. According to prosecutors, Pike considered the girl a romantic rival, lured her to a secluded location, where the victim was tortured and then killed.
Pike does not deny her guilt. At the same time, her attorneys argue that the death penalty is a disproportionate punishment for a crime she committed at age 18 after a traumatic childhood and amid mental-health disorders. She was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The defense also maintains that Pike was sexually abused as a child and that, during the sentencing phase, jurors were not provided with important information about her background and mental state.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said on September 28 that he would not grant Pike clemency. Her attorneys appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the execution, while the mother of the murdered woman, Collin Slammers, supports carrying out the death sentence.