Christa Pike’s execution for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer did not reach the end even after Pike was injected with two doses of pentobarbital, according to Kelly Avellino of Fox News.
Witnesses reported that Pike was still awake 40 minutes after the she was given the dosage. They also described the execution as unusually prolonged process and that “nothing we saw was normal.”
According to journalists present inside the execution chamber, curtains were drawn multiple times while Pike reportedly continued showing signs of life, ABC News reported.
Pike is now being taken to the hospital, Avellino reported.
Pike had been scheduled for execution at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on September 30. Her execution was briefly delayed by a last-minute stay before the US Supreme Court cleared it to proceed later that day.
What happened during Christa Pike’s execution?
According to Pike’s attorneys, prison staff administered two syringes containing pentobarbital.
{{/usCountry}}According to Pike’s attorneys, prison staff administered two syringes containing pentobarbital.
{{/usCountry}}However, the emergency filing alleged she never lost consciousness completely and continued to have a heartbeat after the drugs were delivered. The lawyers requested an immediate halt to the execution and argued Pike required emergency medical treatment.
Associated Press reporter Kim Chandler said, “The blinds were closed for the first time to the execution chamber at 7:46pm, they opened again at 7:49pm.”
Chandler further added, “Her mouth fell open a few times and she began to loudly snore. She gasped a few times.”
According to Chandler the curtain was drawn again at 8:06 pm. “She could be heard loudly snoring, clearly very alive, in the chamber until media witnesses were told to leave the area at about 8:53pm,” Chandler said.
(This story is being updated)