Tennessee inmate granted reprieve after botched execution

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 15 Oct, 11:20 · Archive

Tennessee death row inmate Gary Wayne Sutton has been granted a one-year reprieve following a botched lethal injection of another inmate.

Gary Wayne Sutton, convicted of two 1992 murders, has been granted a one-year reprieve and will remain on death row whilst state officials investigate their execution procedures. Governor Bill Lee announced the pause following Christa Pike's botched execution on 30 September, when she survived two doses of pentobarbital and woke up in hospital.

Sutton's lawyers welcomed the reprieve, saying it will give them more time to pursue his case. Sutton maintains his innocence after decades on death row. His legal team stated: 'The State has serious work to do as it tries to understand how its supposedly failsafe and humane execution procedures have failed twice in less than six months, catastrophically and torturously.'

Pike, who was convicted of the 1995 murder of classmate Colleen Slemmer, has been discharged from hospital and returned to prison. According to her lawyers, she was confused upon waking and did not initially know where she was. A leading expert on capital punishment told Fox News that if Pike remains mentally impaired, she could potentially be barred from execution, as courts have prohibited executing prisoners unable to understand their punishment or those with intellectual disabilities.

How it is being reported

• Christa Pike is back behind bars after botched execution, but her ultimate sentence faces a new testChrista Pike's survival of lethal injection could raise double jeopardy and disability claims that may block Tennessee from executing her again.Fox News · 15 Oct, 11:00
• Tennessee death row inmate gets one-year reprieve after Christa Pike debacleGary Wayne Sutton, who was set to be executed on December 3, will remain on death row longer than expected as a probe into Pike’s botched lethal injections is carried outIndependent World · 13 Oct, 21:26

In this story: Gary Wayne Sutton · Bill Lee · Christa Pike · Colleen Slemmer · Tennessee

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