US Female Death Row Inmate Survives Two Lethal Injections... Execution Halted

Accused of killing a 19-year-old woman at age 18, 31 years ago

Governor: "All scheduled executions this year to be suspended"

An American female death row inmate who was sentenced to death for murder at the age of 18, 31 years ago, survived despite being injected with a lethal substance twice during her execution process.

According to the Associated Press and other sources on October 1 (local time), Krista Pike, age 50, who was sentenced to death for murder, received two injections of a lethal drug intended for execution at a prison in Nashville, Tennessee, on September 30 and survived, after which she was transported to a hospital.

Krista Pike. Reuters Yonhap News.

Reporters who witnessed the execution stated to local media that "Pike was clearly still alive after the administration of the drugs, and they heard her snoring even 40 minutes after the injections." Pike was transported by ambulance to a hospital, where she is currently receiving treatment. Had the execution proceeded as planned, Pike would have become the first woman to be executed in Tennessee in over 200 years.

Pike's attorneys have argued that this execution effectively turned into a process of extreme anguish, and have submitted an emergency petition to the Tennessee Supreme Court to halt the execution. They claimed that Pike had to endure unnecessary pain during the execution process, which violates the constitutional amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment.

The Tennessee Department of Corrections issued a statement confirming Pike's survival and said, "The state government attempted to carry out the execution according to procedure." Tennessee regulations stipulate that, if the inmate does not die after the first drug is administered, a second drug is administered during executions. However, there are no additional guidelines for cases where the inmate survives even after the second administration.

The Tennessee Death Penalty Information Center told the Associated Press that, in the past, there have been seven cases where death row inmates survived because the execution team could not locate a vein to inject the lethal substance, but Pike is the first inmate to survive after actually receiving the drugs.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee issued a statement on the same day saying, "I have ordered a comprehensive, third-party investigation to determine the facts of the situation," and announced that all other scheduled executions this year would be suspended.

Pike was sentenced to death in 1995, at age 18, for murder committed with her boyfriend against Colleen Slemmer (female, 19 at the time of death). Investigations found that Pike and her boyfriend lured Slemmer into a wooded area, attacked her with a weapon, and beat her with rocks and other items to death. Pike is believed to have committed the crime out of the belief that Slemmer was showing interest in her boyfriend.

The case drew considerable attention in American society when it was revealed that a pentagram, considered a symbol associated with 'Satanic worship', was carved into the victim's body. During nearly 30 years of incarceration, Pike petitioned for sentence reduction, citing circumstances such as experiencing sexual abuse during childhood.

In her petition, Pike argued, "I was an 18-year-old with mental illness. It took me many years to realize the seriousness of what I had done."

Meanwhile, the U.S. Court of Appeals, just one hour before the scheduled execution, issued a stay, stating that it needed to verify whether Pike's claims of sexual abuse had been properly considered at sentencing. However, a few hours later, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned this decision by the appeals court, allowing the execution procedure to resume.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.