First Death Row Inmate Survives Lethal Injection in Tennessee

Christa Pike, 50, became the first death row inmate on Wednesday to survive a lethal injection after the procedure failed twice. The execution at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Tennessee was halted around 7:30 p.m. CDT after two doses of pentobarbital did not stop her breathing and heartbeat as intended.

Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, described the event as "singular and unparalleled." While other inmates have survived executions due to difficulties in finding a vein, Maher noted that no one had previously lived through the administration of the lethal drug cocktail.

Witnesses to the execution described the events as "not normal." Following the failure of the second drug dose, Pike's lawyers filed an emergency motion for a stay of execution, citing "unnecessary agony." District Judge Clifton L. Corker granted the motion.

In response, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee ordered a comprehensive, third-party review into the incident and suspended the state's final scheduled execution for the year. "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," Lee stated.

The Tennessee Department of Correction issued a statement asserting that it "followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office."

Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of a classmate. She, along with her boyfriend, lured the victim to an area near the University of Tennessee campus, where they subjected her to brutal beatings and torture before crushing her skull with a piece of asphalt.

State protocols allow for a second dose of lethal drug if the first is ineffective, but there is no established procedure for a scenario where a second dose also fails.