Christa Pike, a 50-year-old American woman convicted of murdering a schoolmate in 1995, survived a lethal injection attempt in Tennessee on Wednesday, prison officials said.
The failed execution was the state's first attempt to put a woman to death in more than 200 years. Pike was taken to an off-site medical facility, but her condition was not immediately known.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee suspended all executions scheduled for this year and called for an independent review of the incident, according to the Nashville Tennessean.
Pike's lawyers sought to halt the execution after witnesses reportedly heard her snoring and gasping despite the administration of the lethal injection drugs.
Her legal team had opposed the execution, citing her history of childhood sexual abuse, violence, neglect and diagnoses of bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Pike was 18 when she and two others tortured and killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. She and her boyf...
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