What’s next for Christa Pike after surviving lethal injection
Christa Pike is in critical condition after a botched lethal injection attempt in Tennessee, leading the governor to pause all remaining executions. The state is now conducting a third-party review to investigate the failure of the execution protocol.
Why it matters
The case highlights ongoing ethical and procedural controversies surrounding the death penalty in the United States.
Christa Pike survived Tennessee's attempt to execute her via lethal injection on Wednesday (all times local), but her medical and legal future remain remarkably unclear.
Pike is in critical condition and receiving life-saving medical care after being injected with two ostensibly fatal doses of pentobarbital, her attorneys said Thursday. They declined to offer further details on her health.
Pike, who was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, was set to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in 200 years. Now, her legal case will be at a standstill.
Governor Bill Lee, a Republican, announced he would call off the state's last remaining execution this year while a third-party review takes place to "determine what exactly occurred" in Pike's case, according to The Associated Press. CNN has reached out to the governor's office for comment.
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14 other newsrooms covered this event. We read each version separately.
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