Expert warns there’s a ‘high risk’ Christa Gail Pike will have an ‘agonizing death’ ahead of execution

An expert has issued a stark warning about using lethal injections as a means of killing someone in the run up to Christa Gail Pike's execution.

Pike was found guilty of murdering Colleen Slemmer in 1995. She lured Slemmer, 19, to her death and was beaten and bludgeoned.

Apparently Pike, who was just 18 years old at the time, thought Slemmer was trying to steal her boyfriend.

Pike was convicted of the crime a year later and sentenced to death. She also is serving time for the attempted murder of a fellow inmate in 2004.

Now, after more than three decades of death row, Pike's execution date is just weeks away.

Her death will mark the first time a female death row inmate will have been executed in Tennessee in over 200 years.

Pike will die by lethal injection, something that Matt Wells, the Deputy Director of Reprieve US, says 'goes wrong more than any other method'.

Expressing his concerns about lethal injections, Wells told UNILAD: "Two months ago, Tony Carruthers was strapped to a gurney for over an hour while prison staff stabbed him with needles more than a dozen times as they failed to establish an IV line."

Carruthers' May execution had to be halted as a result of medics failing to find a vein. The whole ordeal was labeled 'barbaric' by some as the death row inmate was subjected to intense pain for over an hour.

"This is not an isolated incident," Wells went on. "Our research showed that more than a quarter of botched lethal injections in the modern era lasted over an hour.

"The fact that Tennessee is doubling down on this broken execution method, so soon after torturing a man in the chamber, is beyond belief. There is a high risk that Christa Pike could suffer a prolonged and agonizing death."

Wells also alleged that US states will 'go all out to hide information about executions' so that the American public think that lethal injections are 'a humane method'.

"The reality is there is no such thing," he insisted.

Christa Gail Pike has been behind bars for 30 years (Tennessee Department of Corrections)

Wells isn't alone in his concerns about Pike's upcoming execution. Attorney Stephen Ferrell, who represents Pike, said in a press release last month: "We are particularly concerned given Christa Pike’s blood condition thrombocytopenia, which leads to excessive bleeding, as well as her small veins which make the insertion of a needle difficult, even for the most trained medical professionals."

"The difficulty establishing IV lines is a known complication that has caused prolonged and botched executions for year," Ferrell added.

Her lawyer has since requested that a 'special master' be appointed to her case, who will evaluate whether her death is constitutional.

Pike, who has a history of being abused by men, is scheduled to have her death carried out by a team of men.

The special master, which Shelby County Senior Judge Mark Ward has been appointed as, will also assess whether Pike will endure too much pain during the execution.