Politicians in the United States are considering new ways of carrying out the death penalty after the botched execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee. Marsha Blackburn, the Republican candidate for governor of Tennessee, said the two botched lethal injections “should not be grounds to halt carrying out the death penalty.”
Blackburn added that the state should reevaluate how it conducts executions. “If it’s lethal injection, if it is electric chair, what we do know is we have to find a way to do this — and do it successfully,” she said.
Pike survives two lethal injections
Pike, 50, was given two lethal injections in Tennessee’s death chamber but survived. She was rushed to hospital shortly afterwards and remains in a critical condition. She would have been the first woman the state put to death in 200 years.
Lawmakers have already spoken with Blackburn about changing state execution laws during the 2027 session. “We want to broaden it, include more methods,” House Speaker Cameron Sexton said. “What those are as of today, I’m not sure. But I don’t think there’s any method that’s off the table at this point.”
Execution methods across US states
Most US states that have the death penalty use lethal injection as their primary method. South Carolina sets its default as electrocution and Idaho the firing squad, according to the Death Penalty Information Centre.
Some states give prisoners a choice of execution methods. Death by electricity or gas is authorised in nine states, including five that specify nitrogen gas. Five states authorise a firing squad. Florida, which leads the US in executions this year, uses a three-drug lethal injection that includes a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart.
Witnesses describe failed procedure
The scandal over Tennessee’s execution procedures began on Wednesday when Pike was pinned down for around an hour as staff tried to set the two IV lines that would administer the lethal chemicals. According to witnesses, the curtains separating Pike from the viewing area were closed at 7.46pm, but opened again just three minutes later at 7.49pm.
Witnesses described Pike gasping and moaning as she kicked her bedsheet. One said: “Her mouth fell open a few times, and she began to loudly snore. She gasped a few times.” Witnesses said the second dose of pentobarbital had been administered by 8.26pm, but Pike continued to be heard snoring behind the closed curtain until the microphone was cut off at 8.53pm, when there was an announcement to escort media witnesses out of the area.
Pike was later rushed to a nearby hospital where she has remained under guard, unconscious and on a ventilator with blisters and burns on her arms, her lawyers have said. Pike was on death row for the murder of Colleen Slemmer in January 1995. Slemmer was killed at age 19 after being lured into an isolated area on the University of Tennessee agricultural campus. Pike was convicted alongside her boyfriend in 1996, and the court heard there was a pentagram carved into Slemmer’s chest. Pike kept a bit of her skull as a souvenir.
