A Tennessee death row inmate has survived an attempted execution after two lethal injections failed, according to her lawyer.
Christa Pike, 50, was taken to hospital after prison officials administered two syringes of pentobarbital during the execution attempt.
Her legal team filed an emergency motion to halt the execution, stating that Pike had lost consciousness but still had a heartbeat and was audibly snoring.
One of her lawyers told the BBC that Pike was receiving life-saving treatment at the hospital.
The execution followed a last-minute legal battle that reached the US Supreme Court, which allowed the lethal injection to proceed.
Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.
She was 18 when she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, attacked and killed Slemmer, whom they had met at a job training camp for troubled youths.
Further details on Pike’s condition and the failed execution were not immediately available.
