Tennessee woman on death row survives two lethal injections

In Tennessee, Christa Gail Pike, a fifty-year-old woman sentenced for murder in 1995, survived two lethal injections on Wednesday. The state's officials were unable to execute her, and Governor Bill Lee halted the execution for the rest of the year. Witnessed while strapped to a gurney, she remained awake and appeared to be in pain, even asking if her arm was meant to feel that way.

Pike was being treated in a hospital post the failed execution. Pike, who was convicted of killing her 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer in 1995, had been set to be the first woman executed in Tennessee in over 200 years. The execution was initially halted by an appeals court an hour before it was to begin, but the U.S. Supreme Court later overturned the stay.

Governor Lee has ordered a comprehensive review of the incident and the remaining scheduled execution will not take place this year. The Tennessee Department of Correction followed their lawful and established execution protocol, but the incident has reignited debates over the death penalty for juvenile offenders.