Tennessee Botches Execution of Christa Pike; Governor Orders Independent Review

NASHVILLE — Tennessee failed to carry out the execution of death row inmate Christa Pike on September 30, after the lethal injection drugs did not kill her and she was taken to a hospital, according to the Nashville Tennessean. Governor Bill Lee has ordered an independent review of the failed procedure and cancelled the state’s other execution scheduled for this year.

Pike, 50, was to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. She was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of her fellow Job Corps student Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. Reuters noted she would also have been the first person executed in Tennessee in the modern era for a crime committed as a teenager.

The day was marked by legal turmoil. Less than two hours before the scheduled 10 a.m. execution, a split three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit paused it to consider Pike’s arguments about childhood sexual abuse. Just before 6 p.m., the U.S. Supreme Court’s six conservative justices voted to vacate the stay, clearing the way, according to the Tennessean.

Media witnesses said Pike spoke several full sentences during the process, complaining her arm felt like it was “about to bust.” As blinds were repeatedly closed and reopened, witnesses heard her keep breathing and begin snoring. Her attorneys said she remained alive after two doses of lethal pentobarbital and sought an emergency stay, but the execution had already been halted and medical treatment had begun.

The Tennessee Department of Correction insisted it followed its established protocol, which it said had consistently been effective. Lee said carrying out a lawful death sentence was one of the state’s most serious responsibilities and must be done in a way that is “not only legal and constitutional, but is effective.”

Sources

1. The Tennessean — “Botched Christa Pike execution leads Gov. Lee to order review”: https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/crime/2026/09/30/botched-christa-pike-execution-governor-lee-review/92033872007/
2. Reuters — “Tennessee due to execute woman for first time in two centuries”: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/tennessee-due-execute-woman-first-time-two-centuries-2026-09-30/