The execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee "has failed," according to the lawyers for the woman sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of a 19-year-old. In an official statement, the lawyers cited "difficulty accessing veins, ruptured veins, degraded pentobarbital, and lack of emergency medical care." The woman was taken to the hospital.

Tennessee Department of Corrections officials have not publicly confirmed the outcome of the execution, which involved administering two injections of pentobarbital, nor have they responded to an AFP request for information. "This evening, the State of Tennessee has again failed to carry out a lawfully imposed death sentence," Pike's lawyers said in a statement. "Christa is recovering at a nearby hospital. We have not been informed of her condition," her lawyers added.

Journalists were also present at the maximum-security prison in Tennessee, acting as witnesses. "It appears that everything didn't go as planned," reported John North, a reporter for WBIR. "When we left the building, for all we knew, she was probably still alive."

Pike's execution was scheduled to be the first of a woman in Tennessee in at least 200 years and the 30th in the United States this year, 16 of which have taken place in Florida. All were carried out by lethal injection. Tennessee's Republican governor, Bill Lee, rejected requests on Monday to commute Christa Pike's sentence, despite calls from numerous human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, that allegations of sexual abuse and rape as a child should be taken into account.

The woman was sentenced to death for the murder of Colleen Slemmer, 19, a classmate of hers at the Job Corps vocational training program in Knoxville. It was 1995, and Pike was 18 at the time. The crime was linked to a romantic rivalry. Her two accomplices, also teenagers—her boyfriend at the time, 17, and another 18-year-old girl—avoided the death penalty. The former was sentenced to life in prison, while the latter received a suspended sentence in exchange for her testimony against the other two.

(Unioneonline)

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