Emergency call records have revealed the confusion that developed among prison staff and emergency call handlers after the execution of convicted murderer Christa Pike went wrong last month in Tennessee.
The killer of Colleen Slemmer was ultimately taken to hospital after two doses of lethal injection did not kill her. Her case is now in uncharted territory as she is thought to be the only person to have survived an execution attempt by lethal injection.
Pike's legal team has offered the explanation that the pentobarbital chemical, with which she was injected, probably spread under skin rather than reaching her bloodstream in a sufficient quantity to kill her. The confusion resulted in part from an apparent disconnect between prison staff, according to the agency, which first obtained audio of the emergency calls.
Slemmer's mother, who was among those pushing for Pike to be put to death, has branded the failed execution a mess.