Pike’s execution by lethal injection was scheduled for September 30 at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.
She gave her last words at 7:26 p.m., per multiple reporters and news outlets. The execution team reportedly encountered difficulty establishing intravenous access and made multiple attempts to establish IV access before administering pentobarbital.
“None of it was normal,” Catherine Sweeney, a reporter for WPLN, said, per CNN. “I covered all the executions last year and most of the ones this year. We haven’t seen anything like it. It went really poorly.”
Pike ultimately received two doses of the lethal injection drug, but she reportedly continued breathing and was heard snoring after the drug was administered. As a result, the execution was terminated, and she was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment.
Following the attempt, the Tennessee Department of Correction said in a statement that officials followed the state’s established execution protocol.
“The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective, and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out this evening. Christa Pike has been transported to an off-site medical facility,” the statement read.
Pike’s attorneys issued a separate statement, saying the state had not provided them with an update on her condition.
“Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution,” the lawyers said. “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.”
Speaking to a publication, Reprieve founder Clive Stafford Smith cited two possible explanations for the failed execution: the drugs could have been out of date, or there may have been issues in administering the injections.