“As the wait dragged on Wednesday night for word about Christa Pike’s fate, concern mounted that an execution in Tennessee had gone terribly wrong yet again,” the New York Times reports.
“The memories were fresh of a botched attempt just four months earlier, as a doctor spent 90 minutes poking another condemned inmate with needles and slicing open his chest in search of a vein before the state called off the execution. Ms. Pike’s lawyers had cautioned that she had health issues that could create similar complications.”
“Still, the state pushed ahead, administering two doses of the drug pentobarbital, and Ms. Pike did not die. She remains in critical condition, her prognosis unclear.”
NPR: Failed “torturous” execution attempt on Christa Pike reignites death penalty debate.
