Christa Pike, a 50-year-old death row inmate in Tennessee, was transported to a hospital after an attempted execution by lethal injection failed to achieve its intended result. The execution attempt took place at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on Wednesday evening, during which two doses of pentobarbital were administered. Pike’s legal team filed an emergency motion to halt the execution, asserting that she had lost consciousness but retained a heartbeat and was audibly snoring, indicating the procedure had not been completed as intended.
Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for her role in the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. At the time of the crime, Pike was 18 years old and, along with her then-boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, was accused of beating, torturing and killing Slemmer, whom they had met at a job training camp. The case attracted significant media attention in Knoxville, Tennessee, due to the discovery of an inverted pentagram carved into the victim’s chest.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced he had ordered a comprehensive third-party review to determine what occurred during the attempted execution. The state’s Department of Correction maintained that it had followed established execution protocol. However, Pike’s legal team contended that the procedure revealed multiple failures, including difficult vein access, compromised drugs, and lack of emergency medical care. Dr. Joel Zivot, a medical expert retained by Pike’s defense, suggested she may have never achieved sufficient pentobarbital levels to cause the intended physiological effects and noted the possibility of brain injury due to delays in administering medical care.
The attempted execution followed multiple last-minute legal challenges from Pike’s attorneys. The U.S. Supreme Court had previously dismissed appeals and overturned a lower court’s reprieve granted earlier that day. Governor Lee had also denied Pike’s clemency request earlier in the week. This marked the second problematic execution attempt in Tennessee during the year, following the May postponement of Tony Carruthers’ execution due to vein access difficulties.
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