STILL ALIVE

Death Row Inmate Survives Two Lethal Injections

Christa Pike was sentenced to death in 1996.

Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike has survived two lethal injections and is being treated in a hospital. The satanist killer was given two doses of pentobarbital at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville just before 7.30 p.m. on Wednesday. After the injection was delivered, prison officials closed the curtain to the media—but she could be heard snoring. The curtain was then reopened, and witnesses say they saw her gasping and opening her mouth a few times. The curtain was later closed again, but she could still be heard snoring at 8.53 p.m. A death penalty expert told the Associated Press it was an unprecedented failure, while Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee halted remaining executions for the rest of the year. “Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution,” Pike’s lawyers said in a statement. “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.” The statement said Pike was being treated at a nearby hospital. She was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Slemmer’s body was found with a pentagram carved into her chest.