Christa Pike remained alive after two doses of pentobarbital, leading Tennessee officials to suspend the state’s remaining execution this year.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike survived an attempt to execute her by lethal injection Wednesday night after officials administered two doses of the state’s execution drug, leading to her transfer to a medical facility and an independent review of what happened.
Pike, 50, remained alive after the Tennessee Department of Correction said its staff completed every procedure authorized by the state’s execution protocol. Gov. Bill Lee subsequently halted Tennessee’s remaining execution for 2026 and ordered what he described as a comprehensive, third-party review. Pike’s medical condition after she was taken from Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville was not immediately disclosed.
The Department of Correction said it followed the state’s established execution protocol approved by the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office. Tennessee’s protocol uses pentobarbital for lethal injections. Officials said the protocol did not authorize additional procedures after those carried out Wednesday, and Pike was transported to an off-site medical facility.
Pike’s attorneys said in emergency court filings that two doses of pentobarbital had been administered but that she remained alive. Journalists who witnessed the procedure reported hearing heavy breathing and snoring during portions of the execution attempt. At times, curtains between the execution chamber and witnesses were closed. Pike’s lawyers sought emergency court intervention as the procedure unfolded and argued that it should be stopped.
The attempted execution followed hours of legal proceedings. Pike originally had been scheduled to be executed at 10 a.m. Sept. 30. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily stayed the execution shortly before the scheduled time while considering issues raised by her lawyers. The state appealed, and the U.S. Supreme Court later cleared the way for Tennessee to proceed. The execution attempt began that evening at Riverbend.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, whom she knew from a Job Corps program in Knoxville. Pike was 18 at the time of the crime. She and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, were convicted of first-degree murder. Slemmer’s family had supported carrying out Pike’s death sentence, while Pike’s attorneys sought clemency and argued that her age, mental health history and severe abuse during childhood should be considered. Lee denied her clemency request before the scheduled execution.
The case had attracted national attention because Pike would have been the first woman executed by Tennessee in more than 200 years. Executions of women are rare nationwide. According to the Death Penalty Information Center figures cited by The Associated Press and Reuters, 18 women had been executed in the United States since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in the 1970s.
Wednesday’s failed procedure was the second time this year that Tennessee was unable to carry out an execution. In May, officials stopped the planned execution of Tony Carruthers after the execution team was unable to establish intravenous access needed to administer the lethal injection drug. The difficulties in the two cases have renewed scrutiny of Tennessee’s execution procedures.
Tennessee revised its lethal injection process in 2024 to use pentobarbital as a single execution drug. The change followed an earlier pause in executions after the state acknowledged problems with testing drugs used under its previous protocol. In Pike’s case, state officials maintained that the approved procedure was followed, while Lee ordered a separate examination of why the execution did not result in her death.
The governor’s decision means Tennessee’s remaining scheduled execution for 2026 will not proceed this year while the state reviews Pike’s attempted execution. Pike remained alive and was receiving medical treatment after leaving the prison. Officials had not announced her condition or whether Tennessee would seek another execution date.
Author note: Last updated October 1, 2026.