A Death Row prisoner endured 81 minutes strapped to a gurney, "stabbed" and "full of holes," as executioners attempted and failed to kill him. Three executioners, wearing scrubs and face masks to shield themselves from spurting blood according to witnesses, were ultimately forced to call off the bungled execution in 2022 in the US. When they made another attempt two years later, the condemned murderer "thrashed" violently before finally perishing.
It was the most recent in a string of botched executions that year, which have been thrust back into the spotlight following Christa Pike being left in critical condition and requiring life-saving treatment after a second unsuccessful attempt to end her life this week.
Victim battered and knifed to death on husband's orders
Kenneth Smith and another man were initially found guilty in 1989 of the contract killing of Elizabeth Sennett a year prior. Mrs Sennett was 45 when she was battered in her Alabama residence with a "fireplace implement" and a length of piping and stabbed eight times in the chest and twice in the neck, reports the Mirror.
The assassins had been employed by her husband, Charles Sennett Sr, a pastor at the Westside Church of Christ, because he was in debt and hoped to claim on insurance payout. He paid them $1,000 each for the appalling murder and took his own life when the murder investigation closed in on him as a suspect.
Smith's 1989 conviction and death sentence were overturned, but he was found guilty once more in 1996. Despite the jury recommending life imprisonment without parole, the judge overruled this and sentenced him to death.
An inmate who could describe surviving the death chamber
Smith's execution was set for 6pm on 17 November 2022. He had lodged an appeal for a stay of execution, which was under consideration by judges when prison officers escorted Smith to the execution chamber. The stay of execution was granted, but the message didn't reach the execution chamber in time, where Smith was already strapped to the gurney.
Supreme Court documents reveal that three executioners spent 81 minutes attempting to insert an IV into Smith's body to administer the lethal injection. This included "repeatedly sticking needles into his arms and hands" and making "multiple needle jabs in his neck or collarbone region". They even turned the gurney upside down, positioning Smith in an inverted crucifixion pose, before finally admitting defeat. The second attempt at execution, in 2024, marked the first use of nitrogen gas. The process took approximately 25 minutes.
Rev. Jeff Hood, Smith's spiritual adviser who performed last rites, said: "I think that anybody who witnessed this knows we didn't see someone go unconscious into two or three seconds. What we saw was minutes of someone struggling for his life. We saw minutes of someone heaving back and forth. We saw spit. We saw all sorts of stuff develop from his mask."
Marty Roney of the Montgomery Advertiser reported that, for four or five minutes, "Smith writhed and convulsed on the gurney. He took deep breaths, his body shaking violently with his eyes rolling in the back of his head. Smith clenched his fists, his legs shook. He seemed to be gasping for air. The gurney shook several times."
Inmates being 'repeatedly stabbed with needles'
During the executions of both Kenneth Smith and Christa Pike, authorities were unable to establish IV lines for delivering lethal injections into their bodies. Pike's solicitor Randy Spivey told journalists he "counted at least seven needles used in her left arm alone, one of which appeared to be bent when it was pulled from her arm after an unsuccessful attempt". He said the attempts to establish a line went on for an hour.
This marks the second occasion in 2026 that Tennessee officials have attempted and failed to carry out an execution for identical reasons. In May, Tony Carruthers' execution was abandoned after personnel couldn't locate a vein.
Kenneth Smith's execution was amongst four carried out in Alabama during 2022, with three proving unsuccessful. Two inmates survived their scheduled deaths, while the third, although he perished, faced "circumstances surrounding [his] execution indicate that his execution was botched and that he probably suffered". Previously, Tennessee had halted its executions after discovering staff hadn't adhered to proper protocols when testing drugs, and Oklahoma paused executions from 2015 to 2022 following severe procedural mistakes.
What did Christa Pike do?
On 12th January 1995, 18 year old Pike and her partner Tadaryl Shipp enticed 19 year old Colleen Slemmer into woodland near Knoxville, Tennessee, where they subjected her to torture before beating her to death, allegedly because Pike believed she was after her boyfriend.
"When Slemmer tried to flee, Pike sliced her stomach with the box cutter. As Slemmer begged for her life, Pike repeatedly kicked her in the face. Pike then cut Slemmer's throat as she begged for mercy," the Tennessee Attorney General's Office documented in legal papers. Following Slemmer's final escape attempt, Pike struck the rear of her skull with a stone, according to their account. Shipp etched a pentagram onto her chest while Pike subsequently displayed a fragment of their victim's skull to an acquaintance.
What did the murder victims' families say?
In Kenneth Smith's case, several relatives of his victim Elizabeth Sennett attended the execution and informed journalists they had pardoned the killers. "Nothing that happened here today is going to bring mum back," her son, Mike Sennett, stated. "It's a bittersweet day, we're not going to be jumping around, hooping and hollering, hooraying and all that, that's not us. We're glad this day is over."
Following Smith's death, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey declared: "After more than 30 years and attempt after attempt to game the system, Mr Smith has answered for his horrendous crimes. I pray that Elizabeth Sennett's family can receive closure after all these years dealing with that great loss."
Following the second botched attempt to execute Pike, Miss Slemmer's mother May Martinez, who was amongst those wanting the execution to proceed and who journeyed to Tennessee to witness it, told NBC News "it was a mess". She subsequently stated in an interview: "If I could have gotten in that room, I would have taken the box cutter and cut her up like she did Colleen." Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has commissioned an independent review and said on Thursday the investigation into Pike's bungled execution "will be thorough", adding that "it's going to take time".
