Christa Pike was expected to make history as the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years, but the lethal injection did not work as planned.
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Execution personnel had to use at least seven needles to locate a vein while Pike remained strapped to a gurney. She was given two doses of pentobarbital, each considered potentially lethal, but she survived the procedure and was taken to hospital in critical condition.
Her case represents one of the latest episodes in the long history of failed executions in the United States.
Statistics compiled by Austin Sarat, a professor of law and political science at Amherst College and author of the book “Gruesome Spectacles: Failed Execution and America’s Death Penalty,” show that of the 8,776 executions carried out in the US between 1890 and 2010, serious problems occurred in 276 cases. This represents approximately 3.15% of the total.
In absolute terms, hanging recorded the highest number of problematic executions, with 85 cases out of 2,721 executions in total. The electric chair followed with 84 cases out of 4,374 executions, while the gas chamber had 32 problematic cases out of 593 executions.
However, when calculated as a percentage of the total number of executions for each method, lethal injection turned out to be the procedure with the highest rate of problems. Of the 1,054 executions by lethal injection, 75, or 7.2%, encountered serious difficulties.
Sarat defines a “failed execution” as a case in which there is a departure from the approved protocol and unexpected problems or delays arise that cause excessive suffering for the condemned person or demonstrate major errors in carrying out the procedure.
One of the best-known cases is that of John Evans, who was executed in the electric chair in Alabama in 1983. After the first shock of around 1,900 volts, sparks and flames came from the electrodes. Doctors confirmed that Evans still had a heartbeat. After two further shocks, the execution lasted approximately 14 minutes in total and his body was severely burned.
That same year, in Mississippi, Jimmy Lee Gray was executed in the gas chamber. Eight minutes after the gas was released, officials were forced to leave the chamber while Gray was still struggling to breathe. According to eyewitness accounts, he banged his head against a metal pole inside the gas chamber. It was later reported that the executioner had been intoxicated.
In Indiana, in 1985, William Vandiver went through five electrical discharges, and the entire procedure lasted approximately 17 minutes. Witnesses said they saw smoke and smelled burning.
In Arizona, in 1992, Donald Eugene Harding died more than 10 minutes after cyanide tablets were dropped into the gas chamber. For several minutes, he groaned and writhed as his body turned a dark purple color.
In Florida, in 1990, flames approximately 15 centimeters high rose from Jesse Tafero’s head during his execution. Three cycles of electrical shocks were required before his breathing finally stopped. Authorities explained the incident by saying that a synthetic sponge had been used instead of a natural one.
In Ohio, in 2009, the execution of Romell Broom was halted after more than two hours because the executioners could not find a suitable vein in either his arms or legs. Broom tried to help them find a vein and at one point began to cry. The governor of Ohio at the time, Ted Strickland, ordered the procedure to be stopped.
Another case that drew widespread attention occurred in Oklahoma in 2014, involving Clayton Lockett. After the drugs were administered, Lockett began complaining, convulsing and speaking, and at one point tried to rise from the chair. The procedure was stopped, but he died approximately 43 minutes after being given the sedative.
Problems have also been documented in firing-squad executions. One of the most notable cases occurred in Utah in 1879, when Wallace Wilkerson was sentenced to death for murder.
Wilkerson refused to be strapped to a chair and blindfolded, saying that he wanted to look his executioners directly in the face. At the moment the shots were fired, he raised his shoulders and moved the point at which the shooters had aimed.
Four bullets failed to hit vital organs. Wilkerson remained alive and suffered for approximately 27 minutes before his death was confirmed.
Hanging, which was the main method of execution in the US until the end of the 19th century, also carried considerable risks. The success of the procedure depended on accurately calculating the length of the rope and the condemned person’s weight.
If the rope was too long, the fall could potentially sever the condemned person’s head. If it was too short or positioned incorrectly, death could come as a result of slow strangulation.
Tom “Black Jack” Ketchum was executed in 1901. The rope was too long and, together with the weight he had gained during his time in prison, the fall was so powerful that his head was severed.
According to Sarat, the same promise has been repeated with every new execution method: that it would be safe, reliable, efficient and humane. Yet the history of executions in the US contains dozens of cases in which procedures have failed to follow the prescribed protocol.
