U.S. woman did not die even after administering lethal injections, now in hospital

Tennessee's attempt to execute Christa Pike fails and her attorneys say she was still breathing after administering two doses of lethal injections.

Christa Pike received medical care following an execution attempt, according to a court filing. Her attorneys reported she was still breathing after receiving two doses of lethal pentobarbital.

The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for Tennessee to carry out the sentence hours after Pike was originally scheduled to die.

Earlier that morning, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit had issued an order staying Pike's execution "until further order of this court." The Tennessee attorney general's office then asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overrule the stay and let the execution proceed.

Pike had been scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection at 10 a.m. on Sept. 30 at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.

The Supreme Court's ruling came just before 6 p.m. After the execution attempt, no government official had given the public an update on Pike's condition as of 10:10 p.m.

Pike, the only woman on Tennessee's death row, was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville.

Pike's lawyers don't know her status

Christa Pike's lawyers shared a statement after her botched execution.

"Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution," the attorneys said. "We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms. Pike proved to be true: difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy.

"Christa is being treated at a nearby hospital," they said. "We have not been informed as to her condition."

Pike is represented by Randy Spivey and Kelly Gleason from the Tennessee Office of the Post Conviction Defender and Stephen Ferrell and Luke Ihnen from Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee.

Tennessee tried to execute Christa Pike, though two doses of lethal pentobarbital could not stop her from breathing. 

After hours of legal delays, prison officials were cleared to begin the lethal injection process just before 6 p.m., (Eastern Time) when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a stay of execution.

Prison officials pushed the drugs into Pike's body, and they didn't stop her heart, her attorneys said.

Here's what Pike said during the process:

Pike said she was going to leave this world in the same way she spent most of her life, "in love," Kim Chandler, a reporter with the Associated Press and official media witness, said during a news conference.

"She said she had love for the people who were out here hating on her," Chandler said. "She closed her statement with saying, 'I'm at peace. I'm ready to be free.' Then something about celebrating her freedom, and then she closed with, 'This is a happy day.'"

(Source: The Tennessean)