Tennessee execution attempt fails; Christa Pike survives two lethal doses

Tennessee officials failed to execute death row inmate Christa Pike on Wednesday after she remained alive despite receiving two doses of pentobarbital.

Pike, 50, had been scheduled to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. She was later taken to an off-site medical facility, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction.

Media witnesses said Pike was strapped to a gurney at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a temporary stay of execution.

Witnesses reported that a second dose of pentobarbital was administered after the first failed to kill her. Pike remained alive and could be heard breathing and snoring before witnesses were escorted out.

Her lawyers said she was taken to a hospital after the failed execution attempt. Her condition was not immediately disclosed.

The Tennessee Department of Correction said it followed the state’s established execution protocol and that the protocol did not allow additional procedures beyond those already carried out.

Gov. Bill Lee subsequently halted Tennessee’s remaining executions for 2026 and ordered an independent review into what happened.

Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Pike was 18 at the time of the crime.