Christa Pike’s botched execution is a reminder of the horror of the death penalty | Moira Donegan

Christa Pike, 50, survived a botched lethal injection in Tennessee, as did seven other inmates in recent decades. Pike, sentenced to death for torturing and killing a 19-year-old in 1995, was the only one administered drugs before the process was halted. Tennessee has executed eight condemned inmates who were left alive due to execution problems, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Three of the eight would later die in prison, two remain alive, and two were executed after another attempt.

Ohio failed to execute Romell Broom in September 2009 after two hours of failed attempts, with Broom dying in December 2020 of possible COVID-19 complications while on death row. Alva Campbell was executed a second time in March 2018 after initial failure to find a usable vein, but died of natural causes in prison in November 2021. Alan Eugene Miller faced eight failed attempts in September 2022, only to be executed successfully with nitrogen gas in September 2024.

Idaho halted Thomas Eugene Creech's execution in February 2024 after eight attempts to find a vein, while Pike was the second failed execution in Tennessee this year. Four months prior, Tony Carruthers also faced over an hour of failed attempts in May, and the state did not retry him for at least a year. Tennessee prison officials stated that medical personnel quickly established a primary IV line but could not find a suitable vein for a backup line as required by the state's execution protocol.