Trump speaks out on Christa Pike's failed execution attempt as she remains in hospital
President Donald Trump has slammed the officials in charge of Christa Pike's execution after the 50-year-old killer was able to survive two lethal injections.
This week (September 30), Pike was scheduled to become the first woman in more than 200 years to be executed by the state of Tennessee, until she was miraculously heard 'snoring loudly' following the administration of pentobarbital - the so-called 'lethal' injection.
Witnesses in the chamber have since spoken out about what they saw, as one claimed 'nothing was normal' about the incident, in which the inmate was supposed to die.
"It was very ragged. She lifted her head up and she was looking around at one point," WPLN reporter Catherine Sweeney said, before adding: "She said that there was a spot burning and hurting and asked if that was normal. None of it was normal."
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The case had already attracted national attention, but after surviving the execution, it has drawn even greater scrutiny, and from none other than the president himself.
"How does that happen?" Trump questioned, while speaking to reporters in Texas.
The US leader added: "Should be easy to do. It shouldn't be very difficult.
"That was an interesting situation, but you're going to have to speak to Tennessee about it. Whether or not they're going to go forward."
Christa Pike's current condition
Pike, 50, remains in hospital after waiting 30 years on death row for her execution.
On Thursday, her legal team said she was in a 'critical condition' and being given 'lifesaving care'.
During a news conference, attorney Randy Spivey said: "We don’t have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment.
"But we know she is alive right now."
Prior to the drug being administered on September 30, Pike described herself as being at peace with the situation.
And in what she thought would become her 'final' words, the killer said: "I'm going to leave this world the way I spent most of my life and that is in love."
In a statement following Pike's failed execution, the Tennessee Department of Corrections said it 'followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office'.
It added: "The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective, and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out this evening."
She was sentenced to death in 1996 following the brutal murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, who Pike believed at the time was out to steal her boyfriend.
After killing her, Pike reportedly bragged about it to other people and proceeded to show them a piece of skull she said was Slemmer's.
Topics: Crime, US News, Donald Trump, Death Row
Mia Williams