Tennessee halts executions after failed attempt leaves Christa Pike critically ill
Pike’s lawyers say she is unconscious and on a ventilator in a Nashville hospital. Governor Bill Lee has suspended executions for the rest of the year while the state investigates.
Christa Pike remains critically ill in a Nashville hospital after a failed execution attempt in Tennessee, according to a court filing by her lawyers. They say she is unconscious, intubated and on a ventilator, while medical staff work to clear pentobarbital from her system.
The lawyers allege that problems with the IV lines meant the drug entered her body improperly, and that prison staff administered a second dose. Those claims have not been independently established; the circumstances of the attempt are under investigation.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has suspended executions for the rest of the year pending the state’s investigation.
Pike was sentenced to death for a 1995 murder and was the only woman on Tennessee’s death row. Her lawyers have asked for her sentence to be commuted to life in prison.
