Christa Pike was “angry and confused” after waking up from her failed execution, her lawyer has said. 

The State of Tennessee sentenced Pike to death for the murder of Colleen Slemmer in 1995; at the time of the crime, she was 18-years-old. Had she been a few months younger, she would have been ineligible for the death penalty. 

Despite two lethal injections on 30th September, Pike did not die and prison staff eventually called an ambulance. 

Pike is believed to be the first person to survive a lethal injection in US history. 

On Newstalk Breakfast, Reprieve CEO  Maya Foa said Pike’s failed execution “actually has changed the conversation” about capital punishment, by drawing attention to its flaws. 

American politicians talk of executions in a clinical manner, mentioning injections, IV lines and gurneys; it is reminiscent of a hospital, despite the fact that the procedure is about destroying life, not saving it. 

“We know an execution is brutal; it's the taking of a human life,” Ms Foa said. 

“That doesn't happen without some amount of violence. 

“The lethal injection as a method is designed to obscure that they use paralytic agents to stop bodies from moving. 

“They tape hands down to stop us from seeing if someone's conscious longer than we would have wanted.

“They pull the curtain back - as happened in Tennessee - so you don't see when things start to go wrong.”

The death chamber in Arizona. Picture by: Alamy.com.

Ms Foya argued that there is no “humane” method of execution, but states prefer lethal injection as other methods are “more visibly brutal”. 

“In general, a firing squad involves more blood,” she explained. 

“Gas can involve thrashing and vomiting in the mask and electric chair electric chairs is used even less more recently. 

“Support for the death penalty drops when you move to other methods. 

“Lethal injection enjoys the greatest support, I suspect, because it's perceived to be the most, as it were, humane, even though it's not.”

US President Donald Trump has described Pike’s case as an “interesting situation”, adding that the death penalty “shouldn't be very difficult”.

Main image: Christa Pike. Picture by: TDOC.