On Wednesday night, Tennessee officials attempted to execute Christa Pike, a 50‑year‑old death‑row inmate, but the lethal injection failed. Two doses of pentobarbital were administered at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, yet Pike was heard snoring and remained alive.
The protocol calls for a second injection if the first is ineffective. Pike was given a second dose around 8 p.m., after which she was still breathing. Witnesses described her asking if the pain was normal and reporting burning sensations in her arm.
Pike’s execution was scheduled after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a stay imposed by the Sixth Circuit, allowing the sentence to proceed before her death warrant expired at midnight. She was convicted in 1995 for the murder of 19‑year‑old Colleen Slemmer, a classmate she tortured and killed.
Governor Bill Lee ordered a comprehensive, third‑party review of the incident, while Senator Marsha Blackburn called for a return to the electric chair, citing the botched process. Victim’s mother, May Martinez, had traveled to Nashville to witness the execution, and experts like Robin M. Maher and Dr. Joel Zivot warned of possible brain injury.
This is not Tennessee’s first failed execution this year; a prior attempt on Tony Carruthers ended when a suitable vein could not be found. Under the Eighth Amendment, a failed execution does not automatically spare a prisoner from a second attempt, and Pike remains sentenced to death.
