Survived two lethal injections: historic execution foiled in the US
Кріста Пайк / фото cnn
In the US state of Tennessee, 50-year-old Krista Pike survived two doses of the drug administered during an attempted execution. She was then taken to the hospital.
This is reported by the BBC.
Pike was scheduled to be executed on September 30 at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. She could have become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
About an hour before the scheduled execution, a federal appeals court temporarily stayed the execution. However, a few hours later, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the stay, allowing the execution to proceed.
Pike’s lawyers said she was given two doses of pentobarbital, but she remained alive. In a court filing, defense attorneys noted that she snored loudly after the drug was administered.
Pike was later taken from prison to a medical facility.
The Tennessee Department of Corrections said officers followed all steps of the state’s approved execution protocol. The department stressed that the protocol does not require additional procedures after those already carried out.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer . Pike was 18 at the time of the crime. She, along with her then-boyfriend and another man, lured Slemmer to a wooded area near a training center in Knoxville, where she was tortured and murdered.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee ordered a comprehensive independent review of the circumstances of the failed execution after the attempted execution. The last execution scheduled in the state for 2026 was canceled.
“The enforcement of a lawful sentence is one of the state’s most solemn responsibilities, and Tennesseans expect it to be done not only legally and constitutionally, but also effectively,” Lee said.
This is the second failed execution attempt in Tennessee in 2026. In May, the execution of Tony Carruthers was halted after workers were unable to find a suitable vein to administer the drug.
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