‘Wake up call’: Catholic anti-death penalty group condemns ‘horrifying’ botched Tennessee execution

A prominent Catholic anti-death penalty group is criticizing Tennessee for its botched execution attempt of convicted murderer Christa Pike, describing the incident as “horrifying” and “unprecedented.”

Pike, who was convicted in 1996 of the brutal 1995 torture and killing of Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville, was scheduled to be executed on Sept. 30 by lethal injection.

Yet officials said she survived the administration of two syringes of lethal pentobarbital, after which she was transported to a medical facility for treatment.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee subsequently suspended executions in the state for the remainder of the year and ordered an investigation into the state’s capital punishment procedures.

In a statement on Oct. 1, Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, said the group was “stunned and bewildered” by the “unprecedented” incident.

Valliancourt Murphy said the group, which works to oppose the death penalty across the U.S., was praying for both Pike and for Slemmer’s family; it acknowledged that the situation “must surely be retraumatizing” for the latter.

“There is nothing normal about taking a life, and last night’s horrifying events reminds us of that,” she said.

The group in its statement referenced Tennessee’s botched execution of Tony Carruthers earlier in the year. The medical team overseeing that execution had failed to find a vein when attempting to set up a backup IV line for the lethal drugs. The state ultimately suspended Carruthers’ execution for a year.

“For Tennessee to have two botched executions in a matter of months is beyond alarming. It is the epitome of ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ under the Eighth Amendment,” Valliancourt Murphy said.

“We pray this is the needed wake up call for Gov. Lee — in fact, for everyone — to recognize the barbarism of capital punishment,” she added.

Had she been successfully executed by the state, Pike would have been the first woman subject to capital punishment there in 200 years.

The Death Penalty Information Center says the state has executed 17 convicted criminals since 2000, the vast majority with lethal injection, though several have been electrocuted to death.