Christa Pike survived an execution. What went wrong?

After a flurry of eleventh-hour litigation, Christa Pike was strapped to a gurney Wednesday night, set to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in 200 years.

But after being injected with two doses of pentobarbital, Pike was still alive, snoring loudly as journalists selected to witness the execution glanced at one another, wondering what was happening.

“None of it was normal,” said Catherine Sweeney, a reporter for WPLN. “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.”

Tennessee’s failure to put Pike to death is the latest blunder by a state that has pushed ahead with executions after several years of troubles, including another failed execution attempt earlier this year . And it’s sure to become the next keystone of death penalty critics’ arguments as they call for a halt to executions, not just in Tennessee but in the 27 states that still practice the death penalty .

Knoxville News Sentinel/USA Today Network/Imagn Images

Tennessee governor halts executions after Christa Pike survives lethal injection attempt

Reaction to the state’s failure to execute Pike – who was sentenced to death for the January 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer – was swift and scathing.

“The state of Tennessee has shown the world it cannot be trusted to implement capital punishment in a way that preserves human dignity and the rule of law,” Laura Porter, executive director of the US Campaign to End the Death Penalty, said in a statement. “This has to stop now.”

For the time being, it will.

Republican Gov. Bill Lee announced he would call off the state’s last remaining execution this year while a third-party review takes place to “determine what exactly occurred” in Pike’s case, according to The Associated Press. It’s the second such order of his tenure: Lee similarly paused executions in 2022, when he said he learned the proper procedure for testing the lethal drugs had not been followed.

Tennessee is not alone. Multiple states have struggled with lethal injections in recent years, giving rise to novel methods like executions by nitrogen gas and old ones, such as the firing squad .

Whether the public receives concrete answers about what exactly went wrong in Tennessee is perhaps an open question due to laws shielding information about executions from the public. But in the days ahead, scrutiny will likely again focus on Tennessee’s execution drugs, their quality and their source.

In a statement early Thursday, Pike’s attorneys also pointed to other possible issues, including the potential difficulty for corrections officials to access an inmate’s veins to deliver the deadly drugs – though at least one media witness said Wednesday night she did not know whether Pike’s failed execution was a “line access problem.”

Surviving an execution is rare, and while Pike is alive, her condition is unknown – as are the potential long-term consequences of her enduring two doses of a powerful sedative.

“Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution,” the attorneys, Randy Spivey and Kelly Gleason, 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.”

“Christa is being treated at a nearby hospital. We have not been informed as to her condition.”

Tori Gessner of WKRN, one of the media witnesses, provided a detailed timeline of Pike’s execution. The witnesses were taken into the witness chamber at 6:41 p.m., she said. The blinds that look into the execution chamber were opened at 7:26 p.m., and Pike then gave her final statement, she said.

At 7:34 p.m., Pike said her arm felt like it was about to burst and she appeared to be talking, breathing, moaning and snoring, Gessner said.

The blinds to the room were closed at 7:46 p.m. and then re-opened at 7:49 p.m., Gessner said. Pike was snoring with her mouth open at this point.

The blinds then went down at 8:05 p.m., and remained closed until the witnesses were escorted out of the area at 8:53 p.m., Gessner said.

Still, even the media witnesses felt they had little sense of what exactly was happening.

“I cannot emphasize enough how much of whatever just happened, happened behind a closed curtain when Christa Pike was still alive,” said Steven Hale, a reporter for the Nashville Banner.

John North, a journalist for WBIR, echoed that sentiment.

“Obviously, we have a lot of questions about what we saw and what we did not see, because there were moments when the blinds were down for us and there were moments when the blinds were up for us,” he said.

“It appeared that this did not go like they thought it was supposed to go,” he added.

Death penalty opponents and abolitionists quickly seized on Pike’s failed execution as the latest “botched execution,” which experts broadly describe as any execution that deviates from the established protocol.

The Tennessee Department of Correction said it acted according to its protocol throughout the failed execution.

“The Tennessee Department of Correction followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office,” the department said in a statement.

“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.”

Denny Simmons/The Tennessean/USA Today Network/Imagn Images

Tennessee’s lethal injection execution protocol is laid out in a 44-page document created by the Department of Correction, according to a copy obtained by the Death Penalty Information Center. CNN has requested a copy of the protocol from the Tennessee Department of Correction.

The step-by-step protocol is used to “ensure the humane and constitutional execution of inmates sentenced to death” and prohibits officials from straying from the procedure.

“There will be no deviation from the Protocol except by order of the Commissioner,” the protocol states.

The protocol approves only a one-drug method of lethal injection, specifically pentobarbital, a barbiturate that can cause death. The protocol states 100 ml of a 50 mg/ml solution of pentobarbital (a total of 5 grams) shall be checked to verify its contents and expiration dates 30 days before a scheduled execution.

The document lays out procedures leading up to, during and after the execution. Personnel prepare the primary 100ml dose of pentobarbital solution in syringes, as well as a backup set “if the inmate is not deceased,” the protocol states.

There is no protocol for what happens if that second set does not work.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

经过最后一刻的一系列诉讼，克丽斯塔·派克于周三晚上被绑在行刑床上，即将成为田纳西州 200 年来第一个被处决的女性。

但被注射了两剂戊巴比妥后，派克仍然活着，鼾声如雷，被选中见证行刑的记者们面面相觑，想知道发生了什么事。

“这一切都不正常，”WPLN电视台记者凯瑟琳·斯威尼说。“我报道了去年所有的死刑执行，以及今年的大部分。我们从未见过这样的情况。执行得非常糟糕。”

田纳西州未能对派克执行死刑，是该州在经历了数年的波折（包括今年早些时候的另一次死刑执行失败）后，继续推进死刑执行的最新失误。这无疑将成为死刑批评者们论证死刑的又一重要论据，他们呼吁停止执行死刑，不仅在田纳西州，而且在仍然保留死刑的27个州也是如此。

《诺克斯维尔新闻哨兵报》/《今日美国》网络/Imagn Images

田纳西州州长在克丽斯塔·派克侥幸逃脱注射死刑后，暂停了死刑执行。

对于州政府未能执行对派克（因 1995 年 1 月谋杀 19 岁的科琳·斯莱默而被判处死刑）的死刑，各方反应迅速而激烈。

“田纳西州已经向世界表明，它无法以维护人类尊严和法治的方式执行死刑，”美国终止死刑运动执行主任劳拉·波特在一份声明中说。“这种情况必须立即停止。”

暂时来说，确实如此。

据美联社报道，共和党州长比尔·李宣布，在第三方审查派克案“究竟发生了什么”期间，他将暂停该州今年最后一起死刑执行。这是他任期内第二次下达此类命令：李曾在2022年暂停过死刑，当时他表示，他得知死刑药物的检测程序没有得到正确执行。

田纳西州并非个例。近年来，多个州在执行注射死刑方面都遇到了困难，由此催生了氮气死刑等新方法以及枪决等旧方法。

由于法律对死刑执行信息进行保密，公众是否能获得关于田纳西州死刑执行究竟出了什么问题的具体答案，或许仍是个未知数。但未来几天，人们的关注点很可能再次集中在田纳西州的死刑药物、药物质量和来源上。

周四早些时候，派克的律师在一份声明中还指出了其他可能的问题，包括惩教官员可能难以从囚犯的静脉注射致命药物——尽管至少有一位媒体证人在周三晚上表示，她不知道派克的死刑执行失败是否是“输液管路问题”。

能从死刑中幸存下来的情况很少见，虽然派克还活着，但她的状况尚不清楚——她遭受两剂强效镇静剂可能造成的长期后果也同样未知。

“今晚，田纳西州再次未能合法执行死刑，”律师兰迪·斯派维和凯利·格里森在一份声明中表示。“我们并不为自己的正确而感到高兴，但派克女士提出的担忧最终被证实：静脉穿刺困难、静脉破裂、戊巴比妥钠变质、一旦出现意外情况，无法提供紧急医疗救助，而所有这一切都发生在一个至今仍秘而不宣的程序之下。”

“克丽斯塔正在附近医院接受治疗。我们目前还不清楚她的病情。”

WKRN电视台的托里·格斯纳是媒体证人之一，她详细记录了派克被执行死刑的时间线。她说，证人们于下午6点41分被带入证人室。通往行刑室的百叶窗于晚上7点26分打开，派克随后发表了最后陈述。

格斯纳说，晚上 7 点 34 分，派克感觉她的手臂好像要爆裂了，而且她似乎在说话、呼吸、呻吟和打鼾。

格斯纳说，房间的百叶窗在晚上7点46分关上，然后在7点49分重新打开。这时，派克张着嘴打鼾。

格斯纳说，百叶窗随后在晚上 8 点 05 分落下，并一直关闭到晚上 8 点 53 分证人被护送离开该区域为止。

然而，就连媒体记者也觉得他们对究竟发生了什么知之甚少。

《纳什维尔旗帜报》记者史蒂文·黑尔说：“我无法充分强调，刚刚发生的一切，有多少是在克丽斯塔·派克还活着的时候，在紧闭的幕布后发生的。”

WBIR 的记者约翰·诺斯也表达了同样的看法。

“显然，我们对所见所闻和所不见所闻有很多疑问，因为有时百叶窗是拉下来的，有时百叶窗又是拉起来的，”他说。

“事情的发展似乎并没有像他们预想的那样，”他补充道。

死刑反对者和废除主义者迅速抓住派克的死刑执行失败事件，将其视为最新的“失败的死刑执行”，专家们普遍将任何偏离既定程序的死刑执行都称为“失败的死刑执行”。

田纳西州惩教部门表示，在整个死刑执行失败的过程中，他们始终按照既定程序行事。

“田纳西州惩教部门遵循了该州经司法部长办公室批准的合法、既定的死刑执行程序的每一个步骤，”该部门在一份声明中表示。

“按照执行方案，注射死刑的化学制剂一直有效，而且该方案不允许进行今晚已完成程序之外的任何其他操作。克丽斯塔·派克已被送往院外医疗机构。”

丹尼·西蒙斯/《田纳西人报》/今日美国网络/Imagn Images

据死刑信息中心获得的一份副本显示，田纳西州的注射死刑执行程序详述于一份由该州惩教部门制定的44页文件中。CNN已向田纳西州惩教部门索取该程序的副本。

该分步骤的程序旨在“确保对被判处死刑的囚犯进行人道和合宪的处决”，并禁止官员偏离程序。

“除专员命令外，不得偏离本议定书，”议定书规定。

该方案仅批准一种单药注射死刑方法，即戊巴比妥钠，一种可致死的巴比妥类药物。方案规定，应在预定执行死刑前30天检查100毫升浓度为50毫克/毫升的戊巴比妥钠溶液（共5克），以核实其成分和有效期。

该文件详细列出了执行死刑前、执行死刑过程中以及执行死刑后的程序。程序中规定，工作人员会准备100毫升戊巴比妥溶液作为主要剂量，并装入注射器，同时还会准备一套备用注射器，“以防囚犯未死亡”。

如果第二套设备也无法正常工作，目前还没有相应的处理流程。

这是一则正在更新的新闻。