Convicted killer Christa Pike was reportedly still "alive and snoring" on Wednesday night after receiving two doses of lethal injection drugs in an apparent botched execution. Pike, 50, had initially been scheduled to be put to death at 10 a.m. for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, whom she killed in what prosecutors described as a jealous rage.

However, the execution was delayed for several hours after the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued an order halting it "until further order of this court." The US Supreme Court finally overturned that decision shortly before 6 p.m. local time, allowing Tennessee to go ahead with Pike's execution.

Almost Cheating Death

It was the first execution of a woman in the state in more than two centuries. Pike was then given two doses of pentobarbital at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville shortly before 7:30 p.m. She was still alive and breathing at around 9 p.m. local time, The Tennessean reported.

"She's alive and snoring," her attorney Kelley Gleason said, adding that she received the update from Pike's other lawyer, Randy Spivey, who was inside the death chamber with her.

Court filings later indicated that Pike had been taken to a nearby hospital for medical treatment after an ambulance and other emergency responders were spotted arriving outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution.

Her lawyers said her condition was not immediately clear. "Tonight, the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution," Pike's attorneys said in a statement.

They added that they took no pleasure in being proven right, but argued that Pike's concerns had materialized, including difficulty accessing her veins, blown veins, deteriorated pentobarbital and the lack of emergency medical care if complications arose. The lawyers also criticized what they called a protocol shrouded in secrecy.

Media witnesses said the curtains to the execution chamber opened at 7:26 p.m., when Pike sang a song with her spiritual adviser before delivering her final statement.

Shortly afterward, Pike could be heard saying that her arm felt as though it was about to burst.

Complete Chaos

At 7:46 p.m., prison officials closed the curtain separating the execution chamber from the media viewing area. It was reopened three minutes later. Pike could then be heard loudly snoring before the curtain was closed again at 8:06 p.m.

Her snoring reportedly continued behind the closed curtain until the microphone was switched off around 8:53 p.m. An announcement was then made instructing media witnesses to leave the area.

Another member of Pike's legal team, Amy Harwell, has since filed an emergency motion with the Tennessee Supreme Court.

"Ms. Pike has not lost consciousness and still has a heartbeat and is audibly snoring," her attorneys said in a motion submitted to the US District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

Pike's lawyers also filed an emergency request with the US Supreme Court, asking it to immediately stop and stay the execution. They argued that Pike was enduring "unnecessary agony" and that the failed execution amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.

The filing also called on the Tennessee Department of Correction to initiate lifesaving treatment. "Failure to provide such care constitutes deliberate indifference to legitimate, serious medical needs," her attorneys argued.

Federal Judge Clifton L. Corker later said that "medical personnel have begun to administer medical care as requested in the motion."

Pike's lawyers had earlier requested that she be executed by an all-female firing squad or hanged, according to the New York Post.