Execution of American Prisoner Fails After Two Lethal Injections

American prisoner Christa Pike was taken to the hospital on Thursday after the “failure” to carry out her execution, according to her lawyers, while eyewitnesses said she was still breathing and snoring after being injected with two lethal doses.

Hours earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court had approved on Wednesday the execution of Christa Pike, convicted of murder in Tennessee, making her the first woman executed in the state in more than 200 years.

Tennessee prison authorities did not announce the results of the execution, which was carried out using two injections of pentobarbital, a barbiturate (a central nervous system depressant). They also did not respond to a request for comment from Agence France-Presse.

Pike’s defense team said in a statement: “Tennessee failed again tonight to carry out a legal execution. Christa is receiving treatment at a nearby hospital, and we know nothing about her condition.”

The execution was scheduled for 10:00 a.m. (15:00 GMT) at the highly secure Revenvind Correctional Facility, with witnesses including journalists observing the injection process.

Investigative journalist John North of local news station WPIR, who was present at the execution site, said, “Things did not go as planned,” adding, “When we left the building, she was most likely still alive.”

During the live broadcast of the execution, an ambulance was seen leaving the site, though it was unclear whether Pike was inside.

The judges wrote: “The Supreme Court’s decision prevents, without any valid reason, the (lower) court from giving proper attention to the lawsuit filed by Pike,” and noted that “the worst part is that the aim is to allow the state to proceed with Pike’s execution before her case is properly heard in the lower courts.”

Following the botched execution, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said the state would suspend an execution scheduled for later this year, according to media reports, adding that he had called for a “comprehensive and independent third-party review” to understand the circumstances surrounding the failed execution.

The case has sparked debate over the death penalty for criminals who committed their crimes at a young age.

Pike was 18 years old when she and her boyfriend beat and killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer while they were participating in the Job Corps vocational training program in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The crime drew widespread public attention, particularly because a five-pointed star, typically a satanic symbol, was found carved into the victim’s body.

In a petition submitted to the governor, who at the time declined to intervene in the case, the lawyers wrote: “She was 18 years old when she committed her crime and was suffering from severe mental illness.”

The U.S. Supreme Court had rejected on Tuesday a request to halt the execution, which argued that Pike was a victim of sexual abuse, suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and a blood disorder, and that administering a lethal injection would cause “unnecessary suffering.”

Experts noted that “executing Pike would come after a journey of physical and psychological suffering, including childhood abuse and decades of solitary confinement in death row.”

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, only 18 women have been executed in the United States since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976.