Christa Pike execution fails twice: What happens to her death sentence now?

The US convicted and death row inmate, Christa Pike, has survived execution attempts after she was being administered with two lethal injections.

The 50-year-old was charged with murdering the 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer at the job training when Pike was 18-year-old. She was going to be the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.

To one’s surprise, she survived an attempted execution by lethal injection in Tennessee after two doses of pentobarbital failed to cause death. Her legal team states she could still be heard snoring and her heartbeat did not stop.

She was transferred to an off-site medical facility where she is receiving “life-saving measures.”

Pike’s botched execution has raised questions over what went wrong during execution and what will happen to her death sentence now?

What went wrong?

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court gave green light to go ahead with the execution and she was administered two doses of pentobarbital, according to media witnesses.

But these doses failed to stop her heartbeat and Ms. Pike's legal team filed an emergency halt after she lost consciousness, began audibly snoring, and retained a heartbeat.

The Tennessee Department of Correction defended its conduct throughout the attempted execution, stating it stands by every action taken.

Department spokesperson Dorinda Carter said, “The Tennessee Department of Correction followed every step of the State's lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General's Office.”

But a medical expert retained by her team warns she may have sustained brain injury due to delayed resuscitation.

Stafford Smith, who has attended several executions in support of clients in the past, shed light on two possible reasons why the injection failed to kill Pike.

“The first is that the drugs were probably out of date. Something that we’ve been observing a lot for the last 10 years is that they administer drugs that are no longer valid,” he said.

Secondly, it is possible that while administering the injection the authorities failed to find her vein as doctors are not allowed to taken part in this process. It is common among those people who use drug substances.

State response: What will next happen to Pike?

Governor Bill Lee ordered a third-party review and postponed the year’s remaining scheduled execution.

State authorities have not yet clarified if they will attempt to execute Pike a second time or if the drug was degraded. But the Department of Correction maintained that their approach and steps were effective throughout this process.

However, according to Smith, Pike’s return to death row appears uncertain for now.