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Christa Pike 'survives two lethal injections' as mother of her victim says it was a 'mess'
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Christa Pike, who was set to become the first woman in over 200 years to be executed in Tennessee, reportedly survived two botched lethal injection attempts.
After being granted a stay of execution just minutes before her scheduled execution time, the Supreme Court stepped in and ruled that the killing could go ahead, but it seems as if things really didn’t go to plan.
Christa Pike reportedly survived two lethal injection attempts
According to her attorneys, Pike is now being treated in a hospital, although they said that they do not know her condition.
A spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Corrections then said that she was ’transported to an off-site medical facility’.
Little is known about the alleged botched execution attempts so far, but journalists who witnessed it described how she kicked out in pain, snored, and complained about pain during the process.
They also said that curtains to the execution chamber were closed on several occasions so that they could only hear sounds.
Attorneys described the execution chamber scene
In a federal filing seeking to stop her execution, lawyers for the now 50-year-old Pike said that the executioners administered ‘both syringes of lethal injection chemicals’, but that Pike remained alive.
According to those lawyers, Pike ‘has not lost consciousness and still has a heartbeat.’
The Repubican Governor Bill Lee has ordered a ‘comprehensive third-party review’ into the events, and has said that the state’s last planned execution for the year will not take place.
Colleen Slemmer’s mom speaks out
Speaking to NBC News on Thursday morning May Martinez, the mother of Pike’s victim Colleen Slemmer, said ‘it was a mess’.
“They went to try to execute her, and she didn’t die,” she added.
“They didn’t say anything, and then, all of a sudden, they asked all the victims to leave. And we left,”
“We didn’t know anything until we got up to the office and saw the commissioner,
“He said that it didn’t work, that it didn’t work, and she’s on her way to the hospital.”
Pike was then taken to the hospital in an ambulance while receiving medical aid.
In a statement, Pike’s lawyers said: “Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution.”
However, in a contrasting statement, the Tennessee Department of Corrections said that it had 'followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office’ and added that 'the lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective.’
What happens next in this ongoing saga, and whether Christa Pike survives these latest attempts to end her life, remains to be seen.