Christa Pike remains on ventilator after failed execution in Tennessee

Attorneys say hospital staff are working to clear pentobarbital she was administered from her system

Christa Pike remains on ventilator after failed execution in Tennessee

TL;DR

  • Christa Pike is hospitalized and on a ventilator after her execution in Tennessee failed.
  • Her attorneys claim issues with IV lines caused the execution drug, pentobarbital, to be administered incorrectly.
  • They have requested a court order to preserve all evidence from the failed execution.
  • Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer.
  • The governor of Tennessee has ordered a third-party investigation and paused all executions in the state.