Thursday, October 1, 2026 - A woman on death row who received two doses of lethal injection drugs has been rushed to the hospital after she survived.
Christa Pike was scheduled to be executed at a
maximum-security prison in Nashville at 10 am on Wednesday, September 30, local
time.
Her execution was delayed after a last-minute stay, with the
Supreme Court ultimately clearing the way for it to go ahead a few hours later.
Her legal team said she was still alive more than an hour
after the execution drug was administered.
Tennessee has since suspended executions for the rest of the
year pending an investigation.
Witnesses have been released from the Riverbend Maximum
Security Institution, where the execution was held.
Speaking to the media, multiple witnesses from the execution
chamber said "nothing we saw was normal".
They noted the process was "abnormally long", with
the curtain being drawn at multiple points throughout the lethal injection
being administered.
Associated Press journalist Kim Chandler said she had
witnessed many executions, but never one in Tennessee.
"I would say that Pike appeared noticeably awake as the
execution began," she told media outside the prison.
"The blinds were closed for the first time to the
execution chamber at 7:46pm, they opened again at 7:49pm.
"Her mouth fell open a few times, and she began to
loudly snore. She gasped a few times.
"The curtain to the execution chamber closed for the
final time at 8:06pm, and she could be heard loudly snoring, clearly very
alive, in the chamber until media witnesses were told to leave the area at
about 8:53pm."
Pike, now 50, was sentenced to death for a murder committed
when she was 18 years old.
She was convicted of killing Colleen Slemmer, a 19-year-old
fellow student at a training program.
Pike said she had become convinced Ms Slemmer had been
trying to steal her boyfriend, who was later sentenced to life in prison for
his role in the murder.
Pike's attorneys have filed an emergency petition to halt
and stay th execution.
Court documents alleged Pike was administered two syringes
of the execution drug pentobarbital, but was still alive.
"Ms Pike has not lost consciousness and still has a
heartbeat and is audibly snoring," they wrote.
Her attorneys spoke to local media, saying she needed
"immediate medical care".
Before her execution, Pike said in a letter to NBC she was
not afraid to die.
in one of her final requests, she asked for an all-female
execution team.
Her lifelong history of sexual abuse and violence, according
to court documents, left her terrified by the idea of being held down by men in
her final moments.
Her legal team had argued the procedure would be torturous,
noting "small veins" and other conditions that made lethal injection
difficult.
Pike's lawyers have since issued a statement accusing the
state of failing to carry out a lawful execution "once again".
"We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns
raised by Ms Pike proved to be true," the statement said.
"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."
They added that Pike was being treated at a nearby hospital,
but said they had no information as to her condition.
The Tennessee Department of Correction said its staff had
followed state protocol.
"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," a state spokesperson
said.
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