Tennessee governor pauses executions as corrections chief resigns
Christa Pike, 50, is thought to be the only person ever to have survived an execution attempt by lethal injection — placing her case, in the BBC’s description, in “uncharted territory.” Pike was convicted in 1995 of the torture killing of Colleen Slemmer, whom she killed alongside her then-boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp. She was given two doses of lethal injection on 30 September, and once it became clear she was not going to die from the dosage, she was taken to hospital.
The 20:40 call from Riverbend Prison, obtained by the AP and published in full by the Nashville Banner, said: “We’ve been carrying out an execution tonight. We’ve administered 10 grams of pentobarbital. The person is not yet deceased. That started approximately one hour ago. And we’re calling for an ambulance.” First responders treated the call as false because the caller could not verify themselves using a code, according to the emergency call records.
The Nashville Department of Emergency Communications released records of its conversations with other local agencies as it tried to confirm whether the call was genuine. The confusion appears to have been compounded at 21:07, when staff from the institution’s central command said they “would have been the ones to call in” and that they “did not make that call.” The call was not confirmed as genuine until about 21:11, when emergency responders were allowed through the prison gates.
A later call acknowledged the chaotic nature of the situation. At 21:34, as Pike was being taken to hospital, one medic asked a colleague to ensure the prison knew where Pike was being taken, “just ‘cause there’s been so much other confusion.”
The recordings have drawn a sharp reaction from the family of Pike’s victim. Slemmer’s mother, who was among those pushing for Pike to be put to death, has branded the failed execution a “mess.” Shipp remains in prison, having been spared the death penalty because he was not yet an adult when the crime was committed.
The BBC has asked the Tennessee Department of Correction for comment on the recordings; the department has not yet stated what it thinks went wrong in the attempted execution. Pike’s legal team has offered the explanation that the pentobarbital probably spread under skin rather than reaching her bloodstream in a sufficient quantity to kill her; Pike’s lawyers have yet to comment on the recordings.
Pike has since been discharged from hospital after her lawyers reported over the past week that she had regained her ability to walk and talk. In their most recent update, her lawyers cautioned that she faced a “long road to recovery.” It is not clear what treatment, if any, she is receiving now that she is back in prison.
The confusion that allegedly delayed Pike’s medical treatment is now part of an ongoing investigation into what went wrong. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has paused the state’s executions for the remainder of the year, and the head of the state corrections department is resigning from his post in the wake of the botched execution.
It is unclear whether or when the state will try again to execute Pike. Some state Republicans have called for a new method to be attempted. Pike’s legal team is calling on Lee to commute her punishment to the lesser sentence of life in prison without parole.