Tennessee halts upcoming executions as probes into failed injections

Tennessee officials haven't explained yet what went wrong during the

failed execution of Christa Pike, which was called off after she was given

two doses of the drug meant to kill her.

Bill Lee, Governor of Tennessee says an independent review is under way and

the state is halting executions for the remaining year, while Pike's lawyers

ask for her sentence to be commuted.

Speaking to reporters after the botched execution of death row imamate Christa Pike,

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee says the state is halting all other executions for the year

as it opens an investigation into what happened.

Though at this stage, little information into the incident has been offered.

Pike was heard snoring loudly in the execution chamber Wednesday,

more than an hour after the execution process began.

Pike, who was sentenced to death for a gruesome 1995 murder, was taken by

ambulance from a Nashville prison to a hospital, where she was being treated.

Her attorney says she is alive as of Thursday.

Her lawyer goes on to criticise the state's handling of the execution and

says Pike's death sentence should be commuted after having suffered

"an traumatic death."

Tennessee saw another failed execution in May this year when the execution team

was unable to find a suitable vien to secure an IV during the execution of a

convicted triple murderer who was later given a one-year reprieve

on his death sentence.