Major update from Tennessee governor after Christa Pike's failed execution
Outgoing Tennessee governor Bill Lee has paused executions in the state to call for a review after the botched execution of Christa Pike.
Lee, who is a strong advocate for the death penalty, has said that there must now be a review of executions carried out in the state after Pike's became the latest in a series of executions where the condemned person survived.
It came four months after Tennessee failed to execute triple murderer Tony Carruthers, abandoning the attempt after trying for more than an hour to find a vein for the backup IV line, a requirement under state protocol.
Governor Lee, who is set to stand down in January after eight years in post, granted Carruthers a temporary one-year reprieve.
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Executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center (DPI) Robin Maher told Sky News that while seven other people have had their lethal injection executions abandoned over failure to find a vein, Pike is the first to survive after having been administered the drugs.
In a statement, Lee said: “Carrying out a lawfully imposed sentence is among the State’s most serious responsibilities, and the people of Tennessee expect it to be done in a manner that is not only legal and constitutional, but is effective."
Gary Wayne Sutton, 61, was the only other person Tennessee was set to execute in 2026. He was sentenced to death alongside his uncle for the murder of Tommy Griffin, 24, and Griffin's sister, 34, in 1992.
Sutton's scheduled 3 December lethal injection has now been postponed pending a 'comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred'.
A statement issued by the Tennessee Department of Correction said that they 'followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office.'
Christa Pike survived an attempted execution which was carried out on September 30, after exhausting all the legal options available to her, including appeals to the Supreme Court and the governor's office.
Pike was hospitalised after two attempts to execute her by lethal injection failed, with her legal representatives saying that she is still alive.
They added that Pike subsequently underwent 'life-saving measures' after two syringes of pentobarbital were injected into her, but failed to kill her.
Pike was on death row for 30 years after being given the death sentence for the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995 when Pike was 18 years old.
Pike had refused a personalised final meal and shared what were expected to be her final words.
She said: "I’m going to leave this world the way I spent most of my life, and that is with love. I’m at peace, I’m ready to be free. This is a happy day."
Pike then repeated a message with Reverend Mikey Noechel, in which she said: "May you be at peace. May you be kind and gentle to yourself."
After she survived the attempt, the BBC reported her lawyers said: "Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution.
"We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms Pike proved to be true: difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy."
Governor Lee has previously attempted to introduce the death penalty in Tennessee for people who have been convicted of child sex offences, even though the US Supreme Court explicitly bars using the death penalty for a crime that does not involve murder.
Lawmakers debating the bill argued that such abuse 'has a permanent psychological, emotional, and sometimes physical impact on the child'.
Attorneys representing Pike have since detailed the staggering level of physical and sexual abuse that she suffered as a child, including by her grandmother's boyfriend and a neighbour.
Lee refused to grant her clemency, and the attempted execution went ahead, though Pike survived.
Kit Roberts