Nashville, TN — Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn is calling for Tennessee to restore the electric chair after the state failed to execute Christa Pike despite administering two doses of pentobarbital.
Pike, 50, remained alive after Wednesday’s lethal-injection attempt and was transported to a Nashville hospital in critical condition. Witnesses reported that she continued breathing, spoke about pain in her arm and at one point lifted her head after execution drugs had been administered.
Blackburn, the Republican nominee for governor, called the episode “tragic” and said it prolonged the suffering of the family of Colleen Slemmer, whom Pike murdered in 1995. Blackburn said Tennessee should conduct a full review but argued that the solution is to “bring back the electric chair.”
Gov. Bill Lee instead suspended remaining executions this year and ordered an independent investigation into what went wrong.
The failure is particularly significant because Tennessee already experienced another unsuccessful execution attempt this year. In May, officials abandoned the execution of Tony Carruthers after struggling to establish intravenous access.
Pike’s attorneys say Wednesday’s problems were predictable because they had previously warned about her medical conditions and difficult vein access. They are now seeking commutation of her death sentence.
The incident has renewed debate over whether Tennessee can reliably carry out executions under its current lethal-injection protocol.
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