Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has halted all remaining executions scheduled for 2026 after death row inmate Christa Gail Pike survived two doses of lethal injection drugs Wednesday night.
Pike was scheduled to be executed at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, whom Pike killed when she was 18. She would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
According to media witnesses who were present Wednesday, Pike was administered two doses of pentobarbital, but remained alive and was heard snoring after the second dose. She was later transported by ambulance to an off-site medical facility. Her attorneys filed emergency motions seeking to halt the execution and require the state to provide life-saving measures.
The Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) said it followed the state’s established execution protocol.
“The Tennessee Department of Correction followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office,” TDOC said in a statement. “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.”
Lee, in a statement obtained by the Associated Press, said he ordered a “comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred” and halted the remaining execution scheduled for this year.
“Carrying out a lawfully imposed sentence is among the State’s most serious responsibilities, and the people of Tennessee expect it to be done in a manner that is not only legal and constitutional, but is effective,” Lee said, according to the outlet.
The failed execution of Pike Wednesday night followed a day of legal challenges.
While Pike was scheduled to be executed Wednesday morning, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay in the eleventh hour, citing Pike’s pending claims concerning severe sexual abuse she experienced as a child and whether those circumstances were adequately considered during her sentencing.
The U.S. Supreme Court later vacated the stay, allowing Tennessee to proceed.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented from the Supreme Court’s decision. Sotomayor argued that the court was allowing Tennessee to execute Pike before her pending legal claims could be fully considered, writing that the court should exercise caution in capital cases because of the “grave consequences of an erroneous decision.”
Senator Marsha Blackburn said late Wednesday, “This situation is tragic. Christa Pike should have been executed long ago. Now, this botched process is extending the pain for the family of Colleen Slemmer. While there should be a thorough review of what happened and why the process failed, the answer is simple: bring back the electric chair and deliver justice for these victims swiftly. As your governor, I will do just that.”
Pike’s execution attempt was Tennessee’s second unsuccessful lethal-injection attempt this year. In May, the state halted the execution of Tony Carruthers after they were unable to establish intravenous access.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Gov. Bill Lee” by Gov. Bill Lee.
