Christa Pike, 50, survived an execution attempt in Tennessee on Wednesday night. Prison workers gave her two injections of a drug called pentobarbital. She became unconscious, but her heart kept beating. Doctors took her to a hospital and gave her emergency care. Her lawyer said she may have a brain injury.

A court gave Pike a death sentence in 1996. She killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995, when Pike was 18. Pike and her boyfriend beat and killed Slemmer at a work training camp for young people. Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, said she wanted the state to carry out the death sentence.

Pike’s lawyers said the prison had problems with the injections and did not give quick medical help. The Tennessee prison department said its workers followed all rules. Courts had rejected several last-minute requests to stop the execution. Pike will stay in hospital for care, and officials must now decide what happens next.