Her survival after two doses of pentobarbital has raised new medical and legal questions as state officials investigate what went wrong.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Christa Pike remained in critical condition after surviving Tennessee’s attempt to execute her by lethal injection, an extraordinary outcome that sent her from the state’s death chamber to a hospital and prompted officials to halt further executions this year.
Pike, 50, received an initial dose and a backup dose of pentobarbital Wednesday evening at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution but remained alive. Her attorneys said Thursday that she was receiving lifesaving medical care and that they did not know her prognosis. Reports published Friday continued to describe her condition as critical. State officials have not publicly identified the precise reason the drugs failed to kill her.
The execution had already been delayed for hours by late court action. A federal appeals court temporarily stopped it as judges considered a legal issue raised by Pike, but the U.S. Supreme Court later cleared the way for Tennessee to proceed. The state began the execution that evening after the legal barriers were removed.
Witnesses said Pike remained responsive for part of the procedure and later could be heard breathing after the drugs were administered. Her attorneys sought emergency intervention as it became clear that she had not died. She was eventually removed from the prison by ambulance and taken to an off-site medical facility. The Tennessee Department of Correction has released few medical details about her condition.
Pike’s lawyers had raised concerns before the execution about whether her health could complicate lethal injection. They cited a blood disorder and problems involving her veins as they challenged Tennessee’s protocol. After the failed execution, the lawyers argued that the outcome reinforced those warnings and called for her death sentence to be reduced to life imprisonment. Their claims about the cause of the failure have not been established by the state’s investigation.
The Department of Correction said after the attempt that execution workers had followed every step of Tennessee’s established protocol and that the procedure did not authorize additional measures beyond those already taken. Tennessee uses pentobarbital as its lethal injection drug. The state has not yet publicly explained whether the problem involved the drug, the intravenous lines, Pike’s medical condition or another factor.
The failed procedure drew immediate action from Gov. Bill Lee, who described the result as “deeply disturbing.” Lee ordered a third-party review and postponed Tennessee’s remaining execution scheduled for 2026. The review is expected to examine the procedure and determine how an execution carried out under the state’s protocol ended with the condemned prisoner still alive.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. Pike was 18 at the time of the crime. A jury convicted her of first-degree murder and conspiracy, and her death sentence survived decades of state and federal appeals. She was Tennessee’s only woman on death row and would have been the first woman executed by the state in more than two centuries.
Slemmer’s mother attended the execution attempt after waiting decades for the sentence to be carried out. She later expressed distress over the failed procedure and the lack of finality for her family. The case now leaves both families facing an uncertain next phase as Pike receives hospital treatment and the state examines how the execution failed.
No new execution date for Pike has been announced. Her medical prognosis remains uncertain, and Tennessee has not said whether it will seek another execution attempt after the independent review is completed. The immediate focus remains on Pike’s condition and on determining what happened inside the death chamber.
Author note: Last updated Oct. 2, 2026.