Tennessee governor suspends all executions after Christa Pike’s lethal injections fail

Independent inquiry ordered after halted execution of Pike, who was convicted of murder

Tennessee’s governor has suspended all executions in the state until at least the end of the year and ordered an independent inquiry after a botched attempt to put a condemned inmate to death on Wednesday night.

Witnesses at the execution chamber in Nashville said Christa Pike, who was convicted of murder, was still awake and snoring loudly about 40 minutes after officials administered two doses of the lethal drug pentobarbital.