Tennessee governor orders outside review after death row inmate Christa Pike survives execution attempt

Christa Pike, a 50-year-old death row inmate in Tennessee, survived an execution attempt involving two lethal injections administered at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. Pike, who was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, was taken to the hospital after losing consciousness and continuing to have a heartbeat.

Her legal team filed an emergency motion to halt her execution as it was happening, claiming she was now receiving life-saving measures. The attempted execution took place at approximately 20:00 local time (01:00 GMT on Thursday). Tennessee Governor Bill Lee stated that a comprehensive third-party review would be conducted to determine what occurred, as the state's execution protocol does not specify procedures for when a person remains alive after the second set of drug syringes.

Pike's legal team stated that the protocol had been followed, despite the botched execution, citing issues such as difficult vein access, degraded pentobarbital, and a lack of emergency medical care. Pike's lawyers argued that she had not achieved a sufficient blood level of pentobarbital, which could have led to brain injury due to delayed resuscitation.

The US Supreme Court had previously allowed the lethal injections to proceed, despite two earlier legal challenges from Pike's lawyers. The attempted execution marked the second failed execution in Tennessee in 2026.