Christa Pike Tennessee execution attempt fails after Supreme Court clears way

Tennessee’s first attempt to execute a woman in more than 200 years ended unsuccessfully after Pike survived the lethal injection

An attempt to execute Tennessee death-row inmate Christa Pike failed on Wednesday after the state administered lethal injection but was unable to complete the procedure, according to prison officials and her lawyers.

The development came hours after the US Supreme Court cleared the way for Tennessee to proceed with Pike’s execution. The court vacated a stay issued by a federal appeals court, allowing the state to carry out the death sentence for Pike’s 1995 murder conviction.

Tennessee Department of Correction officials said Pike was transported to an off-site medical facility following the failed execution attempt. The department said it had followed the state’s established execution protocol.

Reuters reported that Pike remained alive after two syringes of lethal-injection chemicals were administered. Witnesses reported that she continued breathing and making sounds before officials ended the procedure.

Pike, 50, had been scheduled to become the first woman executed by Tennessee in more than two centuries. She was also the only person in modern Tennessee history facing execution for a crime committed as a teenager.

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The US Supreme Court’s decision followed an emergency request from Tennessee officials after a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit temporarily halted the execution. The appeals court had granted the short stay to consider Pike’s claims concerning evidence of childhood sexual abuse and trauma. The Supreme Court subsequently vacated that stay.

The Supreme Court’s September 29 order had separately denied Pike’s earlier application for a stay and declined to hear her petition at that stage.

Pike was convicted of first-degree murder for the January 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow student at a Knoxville Job Corps centre. Pike was 18 at the time of the crime and was sentenced to death.

Her lawyers had sought clemency, citing a history of childhood violence, neglect and sexual abuse. They also pointed to mental-health diagnoses and evidence concerning her development during childhood. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee denied her clemency request earlier in the week.

The killing received extensive media attention because of its violent circumstances. Pike and her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, were convicted of first-degree murder. Shipp received a life sentence with the possibility of parole, while a third defendant, Shadolla Peterson, testified for the prosecution and received probation.

The failed execution has raised fresh questions about Tennessee’s lethal-injection procedures. Governor Lee subsequently suspended executions in the state for the remainder of the year and ordered an independent review, according to Reuters.

Tennessee had scheduled the execution at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. The state’s latest statement did not indicate that Pike had been successfully executed, and she remained alive after being taken to medical care.