Lawyers: Christa Pike on ventilator, unconscious after failed US execution

Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike was unconscious, intubated and on a ventilator on Thursday night after authorities failed to execute her by lethal injection, her lawyers say in court filings, the BBC reports.

Pike, 50, was injected with two lethal doses of pentobarbital on Wednesday but remained alive, and was taken to hospital by ambulance. Her lawyers allege prison officials used at least seven needles trying to start IV lines. “One needle was bent in a 90-degree angle when it was removed,” the filing states. Governor Bill Lee ordered an independent review and halted all executions in the state for the year.

Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of Colleen Slemmer. Her lawyers filed a Friday motion to preserve “any and all evidence” related to the execution. The state’s department of correction said “the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out”. Authorities are yet to say if they will retry.