Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has halted executions for the remainder of the year after the attempted execution of Christa Pike late Wednesday, according to The Associated Press.
Lee said in a statement that he has ordered "a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred," according to the AP. The state's remaining scheduled execution this year will not take place, the AP reported.
The Tennessee Department of Correction confirmed Pike is being treated at an offsite medical facility following the attempted execution.
"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," a TDOC spokesperson said in a statement.
Pike has spent more than three decades on death row following her conviction in the 1995 torture and murder of Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. Pike was 18 at the time of the crime.
Investigators said Pike bragged about the killing and showed other students a piece of Slemmer's skull.
Pike's case marks the first time Tennessee has sought to execute someone for a crime committed at age 18 since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
Lee reviewed Pike's clemency request and declined to intervene.
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A spokesperson said TDOC "followed every step of the state's lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General's Office."
It remains unclear what went wrong during the attempted execution, and officials have not provided an update on Pike's condition.
Pike's attorneys said she is being treated at a local hospital following the attempted execution but that they have not been informed of her condition.
"Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution," the attorneys 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."
The incident marks the second Tennessee execution in a row that has not gone as planned.
In May, Tennessee halted the execution of Tony Carruthers after the execution team failed to place a central line in his chest to deliver the lethal injection drugs. Lee issued Carruthers a one-year reprieve after that failed execution but allowed other scheduled executions, including Pike's, to proceed.
An emergency filing by Pike's attorneys said she did not lose consciousness and still had a heartbeat after receiving the lethal injection drugs. Media witnesses said she was still "clearly very alive" when they were asked to leave the witness room.
Steven Hale, a media witness for the Nashville Banner, said, "A lot of this attempted execution happened when we could not see what was going on."
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Witnesses also reported seeing an ambulance leave the facility.
"We got out here, and then you all saw the ambulance that was going away with sirens, so we can presume there was somebody alive in that, but we don't know, we're not being told," said Catherine Sweeney, a media witness with WPLN.
Following completed executions in Tennessee, TDOC officials typically announce the completion of the lethal injection and provide a time of death. A reporter at the scene said officials did not make any announcement Wednesday evening.
The attempted execution came after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a stay that had temporarily halted Pike's execution, clearing the way for Tennessee to proceed.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. Sotomayor wrote that the decision allowed Tennessee to move forward before Pike's pending legal challenge had been fully considered by the appeals court.
At the center of that challenge is what Pike's attorneys describe as a significant change in the state's position on her history of childhood sexual abuse and rape. They argue that earlier courts questioned Pike's credibility, while the state more recently said in court that it does not dispute the abuse she suffered.
Her attorneys contend that the change raises questions about the integrity of the earlier proceedings and warrants further review by the appeals court before any execution moves forward.
The filing also disputes the state's argument that Pike waited until the last minute to raise the issue. Her attorneys say she acted after the state's position changed and after other legal challenges and her clemency request had been resolved.
