US convicted murderer Christa Pike is currently hospitalized and receiving life-saving measures after Tennessee authorities failed to execute her by lethal injection. The botched execution prompted Governor Bill Lee to order a third-party review and halt all scheduled executions in the state for the remainder of the year.
What Happened During the Execution of Christa Pike?
Pike, 50, was scheduled to be put to death on Wednesday evening after a high-profile legal battle cleared the way for the execution at the eleventh hour. She was convicted in 1996 for the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a crime she committed alongside her then-boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp.
Pike was administered two syringes of the powerful sedative pentobarbital. According to her legal team, the drugs failed to stop her heartbeat, and she could still be heard snoring.
The Tennessee Department of Correction defended its actions in a statement, maintaining that “the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out this evening.” However, the Associated Press reported that state protocols do not clearly specify what should happen if an inmate remains alive after receiving a second dose.
Dr. Joel Zivot, a professor at the Emory University School of Medicine who was retained by Pike’s legal team as a medical expert, told the BBC that Pike likely never achieved a sufficient blood level of pentobarbital to cause apnoea and cardiovascular failure. Following the failed procedure, Pike was transferred to an off-site medical facility.
One of her lawyers confirmed she was receiving life-saving measures in the hospital. Zivot cautioned that there is a strong possibility she may suffer a brain injury as a result of the delayed start to resuscitation.
Why Did the State Choose Pentobarbital and How Did Officials React?
Pentobarbital is a potent sedative that slows down the body, including the nervous system, and in high doses, it is utilized as a lethal injection to cause death. In recent years, obtaining the drug has grown increasingly difficult as pharmaceutical companies have opposed the use of their products for such purposes.
The drug’s deployment in executions drew heightened scrutiny following a federal government review under President Joe Biden that raised concerns over its potential for “unnecessary pain and suffering.” While that federal review led to a ban on pentobarbital in federal executions, individual states retain the authority to set their own protocols.
Pike’s legal team alleged that the pentobarbital supplied for the execution was degraded, though the Tennessee Department of Correction did not specifically address that claim. Maya Foa, chief executive of the international legal organization Reprieve, criticized the lack of transparency surrounding the event. “We cannot know exactly what went wrong, because so much happened behind a curtain – lethal injection relies on secrecy at every stage, to hide the violence of the state taking a human life,” Foa said.
Meanwhile, May Martinez, the mother of victim Colleen Slemmer, told NBC News that the events had unfolded as “a mess.” Shipp, Pike’s co-defendant, remains in prison after being spared the death penalty under state law because he was 17 at the time that Slemmer was killed.
What Are the Legal Precedents for a Second Execution Attempt?
State authorities have not yet announced whether they will attempt to execute Pike a second time. There is a historical precedent of authorities making a second attempt to execute those on death row.
John Mills, an attorney who works with death row inmates, noted that federal courts are unlikely to intervene if Tennessee schedules another attempt. In 2024, the Supreme Court permitted the state of Alabama to proceed with a second execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith using an experimental oxygen deprivation method after a conventional lethal injection attempt failed two years prior.
Back in 1947, a prominent Supreme Court ruling permitted Louisiana to carry out a second electrocution on Willie Smith, a 17-year-old black teenager who had survived an initial execution attempt. Following determinations that a subsequent attempt breached neither constitutional protections against double jeopardy nor bans on cruel and unusual punishment, Smith met his execution at age 18.
Pike’s defense team has already filed a motion to stay her execution. Mills stated that, if he represented Pike, he would urge federal courts to reexamine their stance on second attempts, look at the Tennessee constitution and ask the Tennessee courts to reconsider, and appeal directly to Governor Lee, who holds the authority to issue stays of executions and exercise clemency.
Governor Lee announced that the year’s last remaining execution will not go ahead as planned, pending the outcome of the independent review into Wednesday’s events.
