US Death Row inmate Christa Pike has lived through her own execution after surviving two “lethal” injections. The convicted killer, 50, was finally taken to hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, after suffering for more than an hour.
But it’s not the first time capital punishment has gone horribly wrong. Here is a closer look at some botched executions through history.
Beheading of Margaret Pole
Poorly executed: The beheading of Margaret Pole, the Countess of Salisbury, scandalised even the bloodthirsty Tudor public. A 67-year-old widow, she was condemned by a paranoid King Henry VIII after her son, Reginald, denounced his break with the Catholic church.
Accounts of her death, on May 27, 1541, make difficult reading. According to one, the axeman chased her around the block, hacking at her neck, and took 11 blows to sever her head.
Jack Ketch’s blunders
Watch your Jack: Executioner Jack Ketch was infamous for his blundering barbarity in 17th century England. He took five blows to finish off the treasonous Lord William Russell in 1683 – despite the noble having given him a generous tip.
At one point, when the axe hit the side of his head, Russell gasped: “You dog, did I give you ten guineas to use me so inhumanely?” Ketch then needed eight attempts to execute James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, in 1685.
Damiens and Half-Hanged Maggie
Hold your horses: When Robert-François Damiens tried to kill French king Louis XV in 1757, there was only one possible penalty. He was condemned to be tortured and pulled apart by horses on the streets of central Paris – but officials found his limbs did not separate easily. His tendons were cut so the beasts could do their job, then his torso was burnt at the stake.
Hang about: Margaret Dickson – nicknamed Half-Hanged Maggie – was sentenced to death in 1724 for killing her baby, which she insisted was stillborn. The Scottish salt maker was hanged in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket, but sat up in her coffin on her way to her grave in Inveresk. Under Scottish law, her sentence had already been carried out so she was allowed to live.
Electric chair and firing squad
Shocking display: US murderer William Kemmler was the first man to be condemned to death by electric chair. But the execution, in 1890, turned into a gruesome spectacle when he survived the initial, 1000-volt shock.
The current was turned up to 2,000 volts – causing his blood vessels to rupture, his body to catch fire and a nauseating smell to fill the death chamber. It took eight minutes for him to die.
Long shot: Soldier Wenceslao Moguel was sentenced to death for taking part in the Mexican Revolution in 1915. He was shot nine times by firing squad, including once at point blank range, yet somehow managed to survive. Although badly disfigured, he lived until 1976 and died aged 79.
