Another ‘disturbing’ botched execution. Why does this keep happening?

Another 'disturbing' botched execution. Why does this keep happening?

Key points

• Contributing: Jimmy Jenkins, Arizona Republic; Kelly Puente and Evan Mealins, Nashville Tennessean; Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY.
• Pike was sentenced to death for the brutal 1995 murder of her romantic rival, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.
• Florida inmate Angel Diaz survived for 34 minutes after receiving two doses of lethal drugs in 2006, according to the center.
• Hours after attempting to execute Christa Pike, state authorities informed the Tennessee Supreme Court she was being taken to a hospital.
• Seven of those execution attempts failed entirely since office-holders in Tennessee, Idaho, Alabama and Ohio could not properly insert intravenous lines.

Another 'disturbing' botched execution. Why does this keep happening? Lethal injections face a host of logistical and ethical problems. Christa Pike's execution failed dramatically, but dozens of others have had major challenges since 1982. N'dea Yancey-Bragg, Amanda Lee Myers USA TODAY. Tennessee governor orders investigation into Christa Pike execution.

Tennessee's failed execution of Christa Pike marks the latest in the country's long history of botched lethal injections.

Since 1982, there have been at least 64 botched executions, the vast majority of which involved lethal injection, according to an analysis by the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center. Seven of those execution attempts failed entirely since office-holders in Tennessee, Idaho, Alabama and Ohio could not properly insert intravenous lines.

It's too shortly to know for sure what went wrong when Tennessee tried to execute Christa Pike, but lethal injections have a long history of logistical and ethical matters that often resurface when an execution fails. Finding qualified medical professionals can be a struggle, and so can be obtaining the drugs needed to carry out the execution.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers have increasingly sought to prevent their drugs from being applied in executions, forcing states to seek alternative suppliers, including compounding pharmacies.Tennessee's previous supplier was a Texas compounding pharmacy that had been fined for failing to disclose a misdemeanor charge against an owner, according to a 2022 Tennessean investigation.

"Well-trained medical personnel generally do not want to be involved in executions, because they've taken an oath to do no harm, " Ngozi Ndulue, deputy director of the Death Penalty Information Center, previously informed the USA TODAY Network. "So we shouldn't be surprised when people without proper training are not able to successfully complete these IV insertions without going to fairly extreme measures." What happened to Christa Pike?

In remarks the morning of Oct. 1, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee remarked the failed execution was "deeply disturbing."

Pike was sentenced to death for the brutal 1995 murder of her romantic rival, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. After Pike received two syringes filled with lethal injection chemicals, she was still alive and experiencing "unnecessary agony, " her attorneys remarked in an emergency motion filed in the Tennessee Supreme Court to immediately stop the process.

"We take no pleasure in being right, but the reservations raised by Ms. Pike proved to be true: tough 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, " Pike's attorneys stated in an official note to USA TODAY.

Lethal injection is the most common execution method in the United States, and the most commonly botched, experts who study the death penalty say.

While a number of inmates have lately survived after executioners failed to access their veins, if Pike survived after receiving two doses of pentobarbital, it would be virtually unprecedented, according to Fordham University law professor Deborah Denno. Denno could recall just one other similar case: Florida teenager Willie Francis. This person survived after being electrocuted in an electric chair in 1946.

"It's quite extraordinary that in 'modern times' that this would be happening, " she remarked. Why can't executioners find veins during lethal injections?

When executioners in Texas struggled to find a suitable vein in Charles Brooks as of his heavy drug employ, Denno wrote in a chapter of "The Elgar Companion to Capital Punishment and Society.", injection challenges stretch all the way back to the country's first lethal injection in 1982.

Factors including dehydration, stress, room temperature and certain medical conditions can additionally produce veins more tough to access. Another difficulty may be that the person inserting the IV line during an execution lacks experience, Denno, the founding director of the university's Neuroscience and Law Center, previously informed USA TODAY.

"They may not be the person who you and I might go to to have blood drawn who's done this a thousand times, right?" she remarked. "I mean it may be somebody who is doing much lower level kind of work even though they're a medical professional."

During a failed execution in May, Dr. Mark Fowler unsuccessfully attempted to place a central line into Tennessee death row prisoner Tony Carruthers. Fowler had not placed a central line in at least 13 years, according to his deposition in litigation over Tennessee's execution procedures. Fowler testified that he had placed regarding a dozen central lines during his career and had no current hospital privileges. 'Negligent, sloppy process' can lead to shocking deaths.

While death row inmates aren't guaranteed a painless death, the U.S. Constitution mandates that their executions be free of "cruel and unusual punishment." In plenty of cases, executions have proceeded despite injection matters, leading to some apparently gruesome deaths.

In 1988, minutes after lethal drugs began flowing into Texas inmate Raymond Landry's arms, a vein "blowout" caused a syringe to pop out and spray the chemicals throughout the execution chamber, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The execution team was ordered to reinsert the catheter, and Landry was pronounced dead 40 minutes after he was first strapped to the gurney.

Florida inmate Angel Diaz survived for 34 minutes after receiving two doses of lethal drugs in 2006, according to the center. An autopsy report discovered that the IV catheters had pierced through Diaz's veins, and the deadly chemicals had been injected into soft tissue. Autopsy photos published by the New Republic in 2014 demonstrated Diaz suffered severe chemical burns consequently.

Oklahoma prison staff attempting to execute inmate Clayton Lockett in 2014 failed to realize that lethal drugs were not going directly into his vein until he raised his head and began to produce sounds, according to an official report. As authorities scrambled to determine next steps, the drugs pooled under his skin in a swollen area larger than a golf ball and began to gradually kill him, the report stated.

Denno remarked Pike could have survived as the lethal drugs weren't properly injected, calling executions a "negligent, sloppy process."

"The fact that they administered two doses is some indication that she wasn't receiving the medication, " she remarked.

Notably, the Tennessee Department of Correction remarked it followed its execution protocol after which no further procedures were permitted. Pike remained alive and was transported to a hospital on Sept. 30. The state has not published an update on Pike's condition as of Oct. 1. Could challenges with drugs have caused Tennessee's botched execution?

Denno remarked there may additionally have been problems with the drug Pike was given.

For context, an independent investigation previously discovered Tennessee's department of corrections failed to consistently test lethal injection drugs for potency, purity and contaminants, systemic failures stretching back years. The failures raised the likelihood that prisoners had been executed using expired, compromised or untested drugs.

In practice, the findings prompted Tennessee to overhaul its execution procedures. But the 44-page protocol published to The Tennessean in January 2025 contained significantly less detail concerning how execution drugs would be obtained, tested and stored than the state's previous 99-page protocol.

Notably, the Tennessee Department of Corrections has not publicly disclosed whether the drug applied on Sept. 30 was compounded. Compounded drugs are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, meaning the agency does not verify their "safety, effectiveness or quality."

"We don't know whether that drug was expired.it may not have the right chemical balance, " Denno remarked.

Contributing: Jimmy Jenkins, Arizona Republic; Kelly Puente and Evan Mealins, Nashville Tennessean; Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY. Share your feedback to support improve our site!

Taken together, the developments around another disturbing botched execution. Why does this keep happening? Point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.