Tennessee governor halts executions after Christa Pike survives 2 lethal injection attempts

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) on Wednesday halted capital punishments in the state, after death-row prisoner Christa Pike survived two lethal injections.

“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,” Lee said in a statement, according to The Associated Press .

The governor added he has ordered a “comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred” and the state’s remaining scheduled execution will not occur this year.

Pike, 50, was still alive after receiving two doses of pentobarbital on Wednesday, the AP reported. The lone woman on Tennessee’s death row, Pike was convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 for killing 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow Jobs Corps Center employee from Knoxville.

Prosecutors say Pike, who was apparently jealous of her then-coworker, lured Slemmer to an abandoned steam plant near the University of Tennessee’s Institute of Agriculture Campus. There, she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, beat, tortured and ultimately killed the other woman.

Shipp, who was 17 when the crime occurred, received a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole for his involvement.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the Volunteer State to put Pike to death, lifting an appeals court ruling from earlier in the day that halted the execution .

In a Wednesday statement , the Tennessee Department of Corrections said it “followed every step” of the state’s “lawful, established protocol” for capital punishment approved by the office of state Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti (R).

“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,” the department continued, adding that Pike was transported to an “off-site medical facility.”

Her attorneys said the 50-year-old was snoring loudly after receiving the injections and was taken via ambulance to the hospital, according to the AP. The lawyers also reportedly said they had not been informed about her condition.