More than 30 years after a brutal killing put Christa Pike on death row, her failed execution has now led to a major shake-up in Tennessee. The state's prisons chief has resigned, while Pike remains critically ill in a Nashville hospital.
Tennessee prisons chief resigns
The head of prisons in the US state of Tennessee is resigning after the failed execution of death row inmate Christa Pike on Wednesday.
Governor Bill Lee announced the change on Saturday in a joint statement with Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada.
Strada said that his stepping down is "in the best interests" of the state. He called the ongoing investigation into the incident "entirely appropriate and necessary," as per BBC.
"Commissioner Strada has served with integrity, and I appreciate his willingness to put the interests of Tennesseans first during this difficult moment," Lee said.
Pike's lawyers called the resignation "justified" but said "it does nothing to help Christa now."
"What happened to her Wednesday reflects a systemic failure that goes far beyond any one person," her legal team wrote in a statement. “We hope the Governor's call for a full, independent review will expose the profound problems within Tennessee's entire death penalty system.”
What happened during the execution
{{/usCountry}}What happened during the execution
{{/usCountry}}According to the BBC, Pike was given two lethal doses of pentobarbital on Wednesday but remained alive. She was then taken to a hospital by ambulance. Her lawyers said that during the procedure, "she could be heard crying, whimpering, and breathing loudly throughout the procedure."
US Supreme Court rejected two separate attempts to stop the execution. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee also denied Pike's request for clemency.
Authorities have not said whether they will try to execute Pike again.
Pike is being treated at a hospital in Nashville, where doctors are trying to clear the drugs from her body, according to legal filings.
Her attorneys, Stephen Ferrell and Luke Ihnen, said in a statement on Friday: “She is critically ill, unconscious, intubated and receiving breathing assistance through a ventilator.”
They added that “She is being treated for the serious effects of the pentobarbital administered during the execution attempt, including significant injuries to both arms.”
The 1995 killing that led to Pike's death sentence
Pike was 18 when she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, beat, tortured and killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995. She was sentenced to death the following year after a media frenzy around the killing in Knoxville, Tennessee.
According to the New York Post, Pike led three classmates from the Knoxville Job Corps Center, a vocational school for troubled youths. They reportedly lured Slemmer by saying they wanted to go to a music store and collect marijuana they had left in a park.
Former Knoxville Police Chief Phil Keith told Fox News Digital on Thursday that he is still haunted by the "satanic" crime scene. Keith served as the city's police chief from 1988 to 2004.
"I'll remember this case to the day I die," he said. "She represents pure evil," Keith said of Pike.
At Pike's trial, an expert described the attack as having "satanic elements," according to court records cited by the New York Post.
"[The images] are as vivid today as the day I saw them," Keith said. "All I have to do is shut my eyes, and I can see everything."
"We didn't have therapy services or counseling or anything at that time, and we, I wish we had, because these images will never be erased," he said.