Breaking: Execution of TN Woman Goes Bad: 2 Lethal Injections Leave Subject Snoring, Very Much Alive
Christa Pike, the convicted murderer whose execution became a cause célèbre on the left, survived two attempts at lethal injection Wednesday and has been moved to an off-site medical facility.
Pike, 50, was described as “alive and loudly snoring” by The Associated Press after the execution attempts Wednesday. The New York Times said that she still had a heartbeat.
Pike was convicted of a 1995 murder with satanic overtones in which the then-18-year-old stabbed and beat a fellow student, Colleen Slemmer, to death, along with accomplices. One accomplice carved a pentagram on Slemmer’s chest during the slaying.
BREAKING: Tennessee governor puts a halt on executions after inmate Christa Gail Pike survives a lethal injection attempt. https://t.co/gQgLmqTOf2
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 1, 2026
Pike’s attorneys had filed numerous motions objecting to the execution, the first on a woman in Tennessee in over 200 years.
According to NBC News, they said that the jury in her original case was not informed of the sexual abuse and neglect she was subjected to during her upbringing.
The Supreme Court denied her final petitions on Tuesday evening, and Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, said he was upholding the sentence “after deliberate consideration.”
When an appeals court stopped the execution again an hour before it was supposed to begin at 10 a.m. Wednesday, the Supreme Court overturned that stay just hours later.
Just before 6:30 p.m., witnesses were brought into the room where they would see Pike before the execution, where she told them, with what were to be her final words, that “I’m going to leave this world the way I spent most of my life … and that is with love.”
Curtains opened and closed several times during the execution attempt; reporters said “that they could hear breathing and steady snoring,” the Times reported.
Then, at 9 p.m., reporters were told to leave, after which Tennessee officials held a news conference.
It’s unclear what occurred at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution on Wednesday evening that led to the botched execution. She was administered two doses of pentobarbital, a strong sedative.
Pike’s lawyers said that their client had small veins, like another inmate involved in a botched execution earlier this year.
“We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms. Pike proved to be true: difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy,” her lawyers said in a statement.
Whatever the case may be, Gov. Lee has ordered “a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred” and has halted executions for the rest of this year.
The Tennessean reported that there was one other execution scheduled for this year — Gary Wayne Sutton on Dec. 3.
“Carrying out a lawfully imposed sentence is among the State’s most serious responsibilities, and the people of Tennessee expect it to be done in a manner that is not only legal and constitutional, but is effective,” Lee said.
The Tennessee Department of Correction, which is responsible for executions, insisted that it followed the state’s guidelines.
“The Tennessee Department of Correction followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office,” a statement from department spokeswoman Dorinda Carter read.
“The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective, and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out this evening. Christa Pike has been transported to an off-site medical facility.”
As of Thursday morning, Pike’s condition was unclear. The New York Post reported she “will likely have brain damage” if she survives.
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