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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BFMG) — Christa Pike remained in critical condition and was receiving lifesaving treatment Thursday after surviving Tennessee’s attempt to execute her with two doses of pentobarbital, according to her attorneys.
The failed execution Wednesday prompted Gov. Bill Lee to order a review and indefinitely postpone Pike’s execution and the state’s only other execution scheduled for this year, The Associated Press reported.
Pike, 50, was hospitalized Wednesday night after the lethal injection failed to kill her. Her attorneys said Thursday that they had limited information about her condition and prognosis.
“We know she is alive right now,” attorney Randy Spivey said during a news conference.
Lee described the outcome as “deeply disturbing” and said the public deserves answers about what happened. He said preliminary information suggested prison employees followed the state’s procedures.
The Tennessee Department of Correction also maintained that its staff followed the established execution protocol approved by the state attorney general’s office.
Attorneys question IV placement
Pike’s lawyers described difficulty establishing intravenous access before the drugs were administered. Spivey said he counted at least seven needles in her left arm and recalled Pike suggesting other places where the execution team might find a vein.
Attorney Steve Ferrell said Pike had previously expressed concern about the lethal injection because a lifelong blood disorder made drawing blood difficult.
Ferrell suggested the IV might not have been properly positioned inside a vein, potentially allowing the medication to collect in her arm instead of entering her bloodstream. That explanation has not been confirmed.
During the execution attempt, Pike questioned the sensation in her arm. Witnesses later heard her snoring, including nearly 30 minutes after a second dose of pentobarbital was administered, according to the AP.
The execution chamber’s microphone was eventually turned off, and Pike was subsequently taken to a hospital.
Her attorneys filed an emergency motion with the Tennessee Supreme Court seeking to stop the procedure, arguing that she was suffering unnecessarily and that the attempt violated constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.
They are now calling for her death sentence to be commuted.
Execution followed last-minute court battle
An appeals court halted Pike’s execution about an hour before it was scheduled to begin Wednesday. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the stay hours later, allowing Tennessee to proceed.
Pike would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
It was the second time this year that Tennessee could not complete a scheduled execution. In May, officials called off Tony Carruthers’ execution after spending more than an hour trying to establish a suitable vein for a secondary IV line. No execution drugs were administered in that attempt.
Tennessee adopted a single-drug pentobarbital protocol in 2024, replacing its previous three-drug method. The change followed a suspension of executions in 2022 after the state acknowledged problems with required testing of its lethal injection drugs.
Death sentence stems from 1995 killing
Pike was sentenced to death for her role in the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a classmate. Pike was 18 at the time.
Pike and her boyfriend were convicted in the killing. Her boyfriend, who was 17 when the crime occurred, received a life sentence and was denied parole last year.
Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, traveled to Nashville to witness the execution. She described the attempt to NBC News as “a mess.”
Pike has not disputed her involvement in Slemmer’s death. Her supporters have urged officials to consider her age at the time, subsequent diagnoses of bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, and allegations that she experienced severe sexual abuse.
