Christa Pike's Execution Halted After Two Lethal Injections Fail

Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike, 50, was still alive after prison officials administered two doses of a lethal injection on Wednesday evening. Her execution was halted as her attorneys raced to file an emergency stay.

Pike was strapped to a gurney in the Nashville death chamber shortly after 7:30 p.m. CDT. This followed an hour earlier decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that overruled her stay of execution, according to The Tennessean.

Witnesses present at the execution reported that Pike was speaking in full sentences before the procedure began. One reporter, Tori Gessner, heard Pike say, "My arm feels like it’s about to bust. One spot is really throbbing."

Pike received two syringes of the lethal drug pentobarbital but remained conscious. Her attorneys then filed an emergency stay in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, stating, "Ms. Pike has not lost consciousness and still has a heartbeat and is audibly snoring."

Pike was the first woman in over 200 years scheduled to be executed in Tennessee. She was convicted of the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer, who was 19 at the time. Pike was 20 when she committed the crime. The murder occurred while Pike and Slemmer were incarcerated at the Tennessee Center for Correctional Officers Training. Pike murdered Slemmer by stabbing her in the head with a screwdriver and then using Slemmer's own lighter to burn her face.