田纳西州死囚克里斯塔·派克（Christa Pike）的律师表示，周三晚间，在注射了两剂死刑执行药物后，她仍然存活。派克的联邦公设辩护人向田纳西州最高法院提交了一份动议，援引证人证词称，她在当地时间晚上8点26分被注射戊巴比妥钠后幸存下来。他们请求法院立即中止执行。他们在动议中写道：“此次执行正在给派克女士造成不必要的痛苦，并违反了其免受残酷和异常惩罚的权利。”“试图执行死刑的过程被拖延，导致派克女士遭受了额外的身体和精神痛苦。”
Lawyers for Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike said she was still alive Wednesday night after being administered two syringes of lethal injection drugs. Pike's federal public defenders wrote in a motion to the Tennessee Supreme Court that she survived after being given doses of pentobarbital at 8:26 p.m. local time, citing witnesses. They asked the court to immediately halt the execution. "This execution is causing Ms. Pike unnecessary agony and occurring in violation of his right to be executed free of cruel and unusual punishment," they wrote. "The prolonged nature of an attempt to execute her is causing Ms. Pike to suffer superadded physical and mental suffering."
派克于1996年因一级谋杀罪被判有罪。她出于明显的嫉妒愤怒，杀害了来自诺克斯维尔、同为就业军中心（Jobs Corps Center）工作人员的19岁女子科琳·斯勒默（Colleen Slemmer）。检方称，斯勒默被诱骗至田纳西大学农业校区附近的一座废弃蒸汽厂，在那里被派克及其当时的男友殴打、折磨并最终杀害。派克对谋杀供认不讳，承认她多次割开斯勒默的喉咙，将沥青砸向她的头部，并保留了她的一块头骨作为纪念品。斯勒默的胸部还被刻下了一个五芒星。
Pike was convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 for killing 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow Jobs Corps Center worker from Knoxville, in apparent jealous rage. Prosecutors say Slemmer was lured to an abandoned steam plant near the University of Tennessee Agricultural campus where she was beaten, tortured and ultimately killed by Pike and Pike's then-boyfriend. Pike confessed to the murder, admitting she had slashed Slemmer's throat several times, threw asphalt at her head and kept a piece of her skull as a souvenir. A pentagram was also carved into Slemmer's chest.
作案时派克年仅18岁，她的律师和反对死刑的人士认为，这一因素在量刑时本应予以考量。她当时的男友塔达里尔·希普（Tadaryl Shipp）因犯罪时年仅17岁，不符合死刑适用条件。希普被判处终身监禁，并于去年被拒绝假释。
Pike was 18 at the time of the murder, which her lawyers and anti-death penalty advocates said should have been a factor when weighing her punishment. Her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, was not eligible for the death penalty, as he was 17 when the crime occurred. Shipp was sentenced to life in prison and denied parole last year.
派克的律师还辩称，在量刑阶段，陪审团并未充分了解派克童年时期遭受“极端性虐待”（包括强奸）的历史。她后来被诊断出患有双相情感障碍和创伤后应激障碍。派克是田纳西州死囚名单上唯一的女性。由于美国第六巡回上诉法院的一个小组……，她周三看似失败的死刑执行被推迟了数小时。
Her lawyers also argued that Pike's history of enduring "extreme sexual abuse" as a child, including rape, was not fully presented to the jury during the sentencing phase. She was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. Pike is the only woman on Tennessee's death row. Her apparent botched execution was delayed for multiple hours on Wednesday after a panel for the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals paused it to allow more time to review Pike's legal challenges.
联邦巡回上诉法院暂停了执行，以便有更多时间审理派克的法律挑战。几小时后，应田纳西州的请求，美国最高法院解除了该命令，允许执行死刑继续进行。三位自由派大法官持异议，索尼娅·索托马约尔大法官写道，她认为“没有理由短路正常的上诉审查程序，特别是考虑到错误决定的严重后果。”
The U.S. Supreme Court lifted the order hours later at Tennessee's request, allowing the execution to proceed. The three liberal justices dissented, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor writing that she saw "no reason to short circuit the ordinary process of appellate review, particularly in light of the grave consequences of an erroneous decision."