Death row inmate Christa Pike Survives two lethal injections, rushed to hospital

A woman on death row who received two doses of lethal injection drugs has been rushed to the hospital after she survived.

Christa Pike was scheduled to be executed at a maximum-security prison in Nashville at 10 am on Wednesday, September 30, local time.

Her execution was delayed after a last-minute stay, with the Supreme Court ultimately clearing the way for it to go ahead a few hours later.

Her legal team said she was still alive more than an hour after the execution drug was administered. 

Tennessee has since suspended executions for the rest of the year pending an investigation.

Witnesses have been released from the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, where the execution was held.

Speaking to the media, multiple witnesses from the execution chamber said "nothing we saw was normal".

They noted the process was "abnormally long", with the curtain being drawn at multiple points throughout the lethal injection being administered.

Associated Press journalist Kim Chandler said she had witnessed many executions, but never one in Tennessee.

"I would say that Pike appeared noticeably awake as the execution began," she told media outside the prison.

"The blinds were closed for the first time to the execution chamber at 7:46pm, they opened again at 7:49pm.

"Her mouth fell open a few times, and she began to loudly snore. She gasped a few times.

"The curtain to the execution chamber closed for the final time at 8:06pm, and she could be heard loudly snoring, clearly very alive, in the chamber until media witnesses were told to leave the area at about 8:53pm."

Pike, now 50, was sentenced to death for a murder committed when she was 18 years old.

She was convicted of killing Colleen Slemmer, a 19-year-old fellow student at a training program.

Pike said she had become convinced Ms Slemmer had been trying to steal her boyfriend, who was later sentenced to life in prison for his role in the murder.

Pike's attorneys have filed an emergency petition to halt and stay the execution.

Court documents alleged Pike was administered two syringes of the execution drug pentobarbital, but was still alive.

"Ms Pike has not lost consciousness and still has a heartbeat and is audibly snoring," they wrote.

Her attorneys spoke to local media, saying she needed "immediate medical care".

Before her execution, Pike said in a letter to NBC she was not afraid to die.

In one of her final requests, she asked for an all-female execution team.

Her lifelong history of sexual abuse and violence, according to court documents, left her terrified by the idea of being held down by men in her final moments.

Her legal team had argued the procedure would be torturous, noting "small veins" and other conditions that made lethal injection difficult.

Pike's lawyers have since issued a statement accusing the state of failing to carry out a lawful execution "once again".

"We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms Pike proved to be true," the statement said.

"Difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy."

They added that Pike was being treated at a nearby hospital, but said they had no information as to her condition.

The Tennessee Department of Correction said its staff had followed state protocol.

"The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective, and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out this evening," a state spokesperson said.