I witnessed Christa Pike’s failed execution : NPR

Key Points:

• Tennessee failed to execute Christa Pike, the first woman facing the death penalty in the state in nearly 200 years, after complications with lethal injection led to her being hospitalized in critical condition.
• Pike's attorneys had warned that her platelet disorder and small veins would make lethal injection painful and ineffective, and the state had recently botched another execution attempt in May with Tony Carruthers.
• During Pike's execution, the lethal injection process took over 45 minutes with signs she was not sedated, and after two rounds of pentobarbital, she remained alive, requiring hospitalization on a ventilator.
• Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has suspended lethal injections for the rest of the year following the failed execution, while the state's protocol and legal battles over execution transparency continue amid ethical concerns.
• The Republican front-runner to replace Lee, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, has called for reinstating the electric chair as an alternative execution method in response to the lethal injection failures.