US death row inmate Christa Pike taken to hospital after surviving two lethal injections, says lawyer

Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike has been hospitalized following two failed lethal injections, her lawyer confirmed. The 50-year-old was still alive, conscious, and snoring during the execution, according to her legal team. One attorney stated Pike was receiving "life-saving measures" in the hospital. The attempted execution, which took place at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, was halted after the US Supreme Court overturned a lower court's reprieve.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative, granted the application to proceed with the execution without explanation. The top court's three liberal justices dissented, arguing that Pike's fundamental interest in "her own life" outweighed Tennessee's desire to expedite the execution. Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the brutal murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, whom she and her then-boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp beat, tortured, and killed at a job training camp for troubled teens.