Tennessee has called off another planned execution in 2026 and will review the way it puts prisoners to death after an inmate, Christa Pike, survived two doses of a lethal drug in the state’s second botched attempt at capital punishment this year.
It is the second time in five years that Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, has paused executions because of questions over the effectiveness of the state’s lethal injections. In 2022, he ordered a review after prison officials failed to properly test the drugs before an execution.
“Carrying out a lawfully imposed sentence is among the state’s most serious responsibilities,” he said in a statement after the attempted execution of Ms. Pike. “The people of Tennessee expect it to be done in a manner that is not only legal and constitutional, but is effective.”
Mr. Lee also ordered a third-party review of what happened during the execution attempt, during which Ms. Pike remained alive, breathing and snoring for nearly an hour before she was taken to a hospital.
The remaining execution for this year, for a man convicted of murdering a friend, had been scheduled for December. This year, Mr. Lee issued a reprieve for another death-row inmate whose execution was canceled after medical staff members failed to find a vein.
Out of four planned executions this year in Tennessee, only one took place without incident.
Ms. Pike, 50, was hospitalized Wednesday evening after it was clear she was still conscious after two doses of the lethal drug pentobarbital. It was not immediately clear Thursday morning what her condition was, or what had gone wrong.
Ms. Pike, convicted of the 1995 murder of a classmate, had been on death row for more than three decades. She would have been the first woman executed in the state in more than 200 years.
Her lawyers had raised concerns about whether the procedure could be carried out, given the first failed execution attempt this year. They also warned that Ms. Pike’s pain could be exacerbated by her history of sexual trauma, along with other medical issues.
The Wednesday execution was already delayed after a flurry of last-minute legal challenges. But after the Supreme Court cleared the way, Tennessee officials moved ahead.
Only a few people were allowed to witness the attempt to end Ms. Pike’s life. While the curtains separating the witness space from the execution chamber were drawn for much of the time, reporters said they could hear Ms. Pike breathing and snoring for nearly an hour.
At one point, they said, she described a burning pain in her arm.
The Tennessee Department of Correction said in a statement it “had followed every step of the state’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the attorney general’s office.”
“The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective,” the department said.
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