Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has halted the state’s remaining executions this year after an attempt to put Christa Pike to death failed. Lee ordered “a comprehensive, third-party review” to determine what went wrong, according to the Associated Press. “Carrying out a lawfully imposed sentence is among the state’s most serious responsibilities, and the people of Tennessee expect it to be done in a manner that is not only legal and constitutional, but is effective,” he said in a statement.
The Christa Pike execution attempt drew national attention after witnesses said she remained alive and was snoring loudly following two injections. Her attorneys said in a federal court filing that she “has not lost consciousness and still has a heartbeat.” An ambulance transported her from the prison, and her current status is unknown. The curtains to the death chamber reportedly went down twice during the process.
Pike had been scheduled to die Wednesday after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a stay issued by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. She was convicted of the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow Job Corps student in Knoxville. Pike was 18 at the time of the killing. Her attorneys had argued that jurors who sentenced her to death were not presented with the full extent of her childhood sexual abuse, trauma, and mental health history. Lee’s halt on executions will remain in place pending the review.
