'Absolute torture': Female US inmate in critical condition after botched execution

France 249 October 2026, 14:03 UTCFrance

A condemned female murderer who survived two lethal injections during a botched execution by the US state of Tennessee was in critical condition and receiving "life-saving care," according to her attorneys. In an extraordinary chain of events, Christa Pike, 50, was whisked from a prison execution chamber to a hospital, still alive despite two deadly doses of pentobarbital. What happened to Pike is "absolute torture," said Sandrine Ageorges-Skinner, Spokesperson for Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM), speaking to FRANCE 24's Alison Sargent.

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