The night before her scheduled execution, Christa Pike asked that her $20 last meal allowance be used to buy pizza for homeless people in downtown Nashville. Journalists gathered at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution on the outskirts of Nashville to monitor the first execution of a woman in Tennessee in more than 200 years. By evening, Pike survived two separate attempts to inject her with execution drugs, sparking horrified reactions and renewed scrutiny of the death penalty.
The Tennessee Department of Correction stated it followed its lethal injection protocol precisely, but the protocol lacks guidance for failed attempts. Pike remains unconscious and on a ventilator at a Nashville hospital, her fate uncertain. Her lawyers had previously warned about her small veins and blood disorder, noting she tried to assist during the procedure, saying 'Please try up on my shoulder higher.'.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing