inmate

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee paused all executions for the remainder of the year and ordered an independent review to “determine exactly what occurred”.

Lee was asked by reporters this week about a potential second execution attempt. “I suspect her sentence will be the same as before unless determined otherwise by the courts,” he responded.

Speaking about the state’s response to what happened to Pike, Mann said: “I find it deeply troubling that, even after what Christa endured, Governor Lee has shown little public willingness to reconsider the death penalty itself, rather than simply the procedures used to carry it out.”

She added: “What happened to Christa is not an isolated tragedy, nor should this conversation begin and end with her.”

The Tennessee Department of Correction has not explained why the execution did not go as planned, though it has defended the method it used.

It declined comment on Pike’s statement when contacted by the BBC.

Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, was among those pushing for Pike to be put to death and attended the botched execution, later calling it a “mess”.

She told a local ABC News affiliate in Florida, where she lives, that she thinks the state owes her an apology.

“All I wanted was justice,” Martinez said.

Pike was the first woman scheduled to be executed in the state of Tennessee in over 200 years.

Her lawyers have spent decades appealing her case. In the days leading up to her scheduled execution, both the US Supreme Court and Lee declined to block the execution.

The attempted execution of Pike was not the first in Tennessee in 2026 that did not go to plan.

The execution of Tony Carruthers, who was convicted of kidnapping and murdering three people in 1994, was postponed in May after staff were unable to find a vein for a lethal injection. He was granted a year’s reprieve by the governor.

In 2022, more than a third of executions across the US were botched or highly problematic, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, which does not take an ethical stance on the penalty.

Executions in Tennessee have been halted for the rest of the year, Governor Bill Lee has said, after two attempts to execute death row inmate Christa Pike by lethal injection failed.

In a statement to CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, Lee said lawful executions were among the state’s “most serious responsibilities”, adding that he has ordered a third-party review “to determine exactly what occurred”.

Tennessee prison officials on Wednesday attempted to administer two lethal doses of pentobarbital to Pike but she survived and was taken to hospital. Her medical condition is unclear.

Pike, 50 was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of Colleen Slemmer.

She was 18 when she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, beat, tortured and killed 19-year-old Slemmer.

Pike would have been the first woman to be executed in Tennessee for over 200 years.

Speaking to reporters at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday morning, Lee said: “I’m highly disappointed, along with Tennesseans, about what happened last night.”

Governor Lee has not made clear who will conduct the independent review of the state’s execution procedures.

His order to pause all executions will overlap with the planned 3 December execution of convicted murderer Gary Sutton.

In court filings, Pike’s lawyers said she needed “life-saving measures” after her botched execution.

The Tennessee Department of Correction, which handled the execution, issued a statement defending its handling of the case.

“The Tennessee Department of Correction followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the attorney general’s office,” the statement said.

“The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective, and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out this evening.”

This is the second time in 2026 Tennessee officials attempted and failed to execute a prisoner.

In May, the execution of Tony Carruthers was called off after staff were unable to find a vein to administer a lethal drug. Carruthers was given a one-year reprieve.