Christa Pike case: What happened inside the execution chamber?

Death row inmate Christa Pike was taken to hospital after surviving a failed execution attempt at a Nashville prison yesterday(1 October) night, after officials administered two rounds of lethal injection drugs, according to her lawyers and US news website Axios.

Pike was still breathing after receiving the injections, her attorneys said in court filings. Media witnesses who watched the execution attempt said she continued breathing before they were ordered to leave at about 8:53pm.

An ambulance later left the prison grounds as reporters described what they had witnessed at a press conference outside.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has since ordered a halt to all executions in the state pending a "comprehensive, third-party review" of the failed attempt.

"Carrying out a lawfully imposed sentence is among the State's most serious responsibilities, and the people of Tennessee expect it to be done in a manner that is not only legal and constitutional, but is effective," Lee said in a statement, according to The Tennessean, as reported by Axios.

The incident has raised questions about what happened inside the execution chamber, particularly because media witnesses said prison staff repeatedly closed curtains that blocked their view of Pike.

John North, a reporter for Knoxville-based WBIR, said witnesses had "a lot of questions about what we saw and what we did not see", while the Department of Correction had answers to provide about the incident.

Nashville Banner reporter Steven Hale said much of what happened took place behind a closed curtain. WKRN reporter Tori Gessner, who has witnessed multiple executions in Tennessee, said "nothing about today was normal".

The execution had already been delayed earlier on Wednesday. About an hour before Pike's scheduled 10am execution, the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals issued a short stay while it considered an ongoing legal dispute between Pike's lawyers and the state.

The Tennessee attorney general's office then asked the US Supreme Court to intervene and allow the execution to proceed. Shortly before 6pm, the Supreme Court lifted the stay in a two-sentence order, clearing the way for the execution.

Media witnesses were brought to a room beside the execution chamber before the lethal injection began. The curtain opened at about 7:27pm, after the witnesses had waited for roughly 45 minutes.

Pike gave a statement and sang with her spiritual adviser. Witnesses said she later complained that her arm felt as if it was "about to burst open" and that another spot on her arm was throbbing.

They described Pike breathing heavily and moving her head and legs before she eventually began snoring.

At about 7:46pm, the curtain was closed while witnesses could still see Pike breathing. It reopened roughly three minutes later before closing again around 8:05pm.

This time, the curtain remained closed. Witnesses said they could continue hearing Pike's rhythmic breathing and snoring until they were ordered to leave at about 8:53pm.

The witnesses repeatedly stressed that they could not determine exactly what went wrong because they were unable to see key parts of the process.

Pike's lawyers said she was taken to hospital for treatment but that they had not been informed of her condition.

The Tennessee Department of Correction confirmed at 11:12pm that Pike had been taken to a medical facility and said officials had "followed every step of the State's lawful, established execution protocol".

The state's protocol does not permit more than two rounds of pentobarbital, according to Axios.

Pike's execution had been scheduled for 30 September. She was convicted of murdering 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995, when Pike was 18.