Emergency call logs have revealed confusion that developed among prison staff and emergency call handlers after the execution of convicted murderer Christa Pike went wrong last month in Tennessee. Pike, 50, who killed Colleen Slemmer along with her then-boyfriend in 1995, received two doses of lethal injection on Sept. 30. Once it became clear that she was not going to die from the dose, she was taken to the hospital. The confusion was due in part to an apparent disconnect among prison staff, according to the AP news agency, which first obtained audio of the emergency calls. This supposedly delayed Pike’s treatment. The BBC has asked the state corrections department for comment. The department has not yet stated what it believes went wrong in the attempted execution of Pike. Pike’s legal team has offered the explanation that the chemical pentobarbital she was injected with likely spread under her skin rather than reaching her bloodstream in an amount sufficient to kill her. Pike has now been discharged from hospital, although in their most recent update on her health, her team warned she faced a “long road to recovery”. It is unclear what treatment, if any, he is receiving now that he is back in prison. His case is now in uncharted territory, as he is believed to be the only person to have survived an attempted execution by lethal injection. Slemmer’s mother, who was among those who pushed for Pike to be executed, called the botched execution a “disaster.” Pike’s boyfriend at the time of the murder, Tadaryl Shipp, remains in prison, having escaped the death penalty because he was not yet an adult when the crime was committed.
