Former lawyer says Tennessee ignored vein warnings before botched execution of Christa Pike
According to the Guardian, a former attorney for death-row inmate Christa Pike said Tennessee officials had warned that her compromised veins could make a lethal injection difficult and potentially cruel, after two doses of pentobarbital failed to kill her on September 30, leaving her on a ventilator. Pike, convicted of a 1995 murder, was scheduled for execution on September 30, becoming the first woman to face death in Tennessee in over two centuries. The U. S.
Supreme Court lifted a lower-court stay, permitting the execution, as reported by the BBC. Two pentobarbital injections, however, failed to cause death, and Pike was left in critical condition, prompting Governor Bill Lee to suspend all executions and order an independent review, the BBC said. The state's prison commissioner later resigned amid criticism, also reported by the BBC.
