The governor of the state of Tennessee (USA), Bill Lee, announced a temporary suspension of executions scheduled for 2026 after Christa Pike, sentenced to death, survived two lethal doses during her execution this Wednesday.
“Carrying out legally imposed sentences is among the most important responsibilities of the State and the people of Tennessee expect it to be done not only legally and constitutionally, but also effectively,” Lee reflected in a statement reported by local media.
An investigation is opened
The governor called for a “thorough” investigation into Pike’s botched execution and halted the rest of the executions that were to be carried out in the state this year. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Gary Wayne Sutton was scheduled to be executed in Tennessee on December 3.
An unfinished execution
Witnesses described a procedure much longer than anticipated. Pike stayed awake for much of the first phase, speaking with officials and singing alongside her spiritual guide, who remained by her side throughout the process.
The first curtain separating witnesses from the execution site was closed around 7:46 p.m. local time (00:46 GMT), but opened again three minutes later.
Reporters then observed that Pike was still breathing and that his spirit guide returned to the room and, shortly after, began a second round of administration of the drug.
After that second round, the witnesses again heard breathing, loud snoring and also observed head and neck movements and, at one point, Pike raised his head while remaining on the stretcher.
The curtain closed again around 8:05 p.m. and journalists continued to listen to his breathing until they were forced to leave the area, at approximately 8:53 p.m.
An uncertain scenario
Journalist Catherine Sweeney of the WPLN station explained during a subsequent conference that the Tennessee protocol contemplates a first administration of pentobarbital and a second course if the first does not produce the expected effect.
The procedure establishes the use of four syringes, two of them with 50 milliliters of pentobarbital, and allows the administration to be repeated, but the journalist pointed out that the instructions do not specify what happens if a person remains alive after receiving both doses, a situation that the journalists described as extraordinary.
Witnesses also later saw an ambulance leave the prison with sirens on, although they could not confirm who was traveling in it. So far, they have also not been able to determine if the failure was related to the administration of the drug, the intravenous access or another problem during the procedure.
Almost 30 years on death row
Pike had been on death row in Tennessee for almost three decades after being sentenced to death in 1996 for a murder and was to become the first woman executed in this state in 200 years.
This same Wednesday, the Supreme Court lifted a stay of execution issued hours earlier by a federal appeals court, once again leaving the State free to apply the death penalty.
Witnesses were able to hear Pike breathing for almost an hour after receiving the injections, before being forced to leave the scene, in an episode for which, according to the journalists present, the Tennessee protocol does not seem to establish what must be done.
According to a statement from Pike’s lawyers, reported by local media, the woman is receiving treatment in a hospital, but their state of health is unknown.
