Tennessee Reviews Lethal Injection Process After Botched Execution

Tennessee is reviewing its lethal injection process after a botched execution attempt left 50-year-old Christa Pike in critical condition.“This failed attempt is the worst we’ve ever seen and unlike any other botched execution in the modern era,” Robin Maher, the center’s director, said in a statement on Thursday.Pike’s case has drawn scrutiny over the state’s decision to proceed with her execution, despite repeated warnings about its lethal injection protocol from her attorneys, who said she was subjected to “chemical torture.”Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, ordered an independent investigation of the lethal injection process late on Wednesday. Lee also suspended executions in the state till the end of the year, the second moratorium on executions during his time in office due to concerns over the state’s lethal injections.“There is no one that wanted what happened last night to happen,” Lee told reporters on Thursday, describing the botched execution as a “tragedy.” But he stopped short of suggesting that he might heed renewed calls to commute Pike’s sentence to life in prison.“The people of Tennessee have determined that the death penalty is the appropriate penalty for the most hei...