Pike, 50, was scheduled for execution on Wednesday night at Nashville’s Riverbend Maximum Security Institution for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. According to her attorney Randy Spivey, Pike remained alive for at least 40 minutes after receiving the drugs and was snoring. She was taken to an off-site hospital and is receiving “life-saving care,” though her prognosis remains unknown. “She is in critical condition receiving life-saving care. That is the extent of what we have at the moment,” Spivey said at a press conference.

Lee, a Republican, called the incident “a tragedy” and ordered an independent third-party review of the failed execution. “It’s deeply disturbing that that has happened in this state. The people deserve better than that,” he said. He has not yet selected an investigator for the review and has not spoken to Pike or the family of her victim.

Pike’s legal team reported that execution officials used at least seven needles in an hour-long attempt to insert an IV line into her arm. One needle was bent after being removed. Spivey said Pike asked if her arm was “supposed to feel that way” during the procedure and that her right arm turned purple after the second injection. Stephen Ferrell, another of her lawyers, said medical experts had warned that the drugs could have leaked into her tissues instead of her bloodstream, causing pain but not death.

The Tennessee Department of Correction defended its actions, stating that it “followed every step of the state’s lawful, established execution protocol.” The department also noted that the protocol does not allow for additional procedures after the second dose of pentobarbital. “The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective,” the department said in a statement.

Robin Maher of the Death Penalty Information Center called the incident “the worst we’ve ever seen and unlike any other botched execution in the modern era.” She attributed the failure to Tennessee’s secrecy around execution procedures.

Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton announced that lawmakers would investigate the incident and consider alternatives, including the use of potassium chloride. “We will look at all options – expanding the alternatives, and changing the current medications,” he said.

Dr. Joel Zivot, a professor at Emory University School of Medicine, warned that Pike may have suffered a brain injury due to the delay in resuscitation.

Pike was 18 when she and her boyfriend killed Colleen Slemmer in 1995. Her legal team had argued that her mental health and history of abuse should be considered. The Supreme Court overturned a last-minute stay on Wednesday, allowing the execution to proceed. Pike’s lawyers now urge Lee to commute her sentence, calling her punishment “greater than any other person in the history of the American death penalty.”