In response to the botched execution of Christa Pike, who was convicted more than 20 years ago for the 1995 premeditated murder of Colleen Slemmer, on Thursday U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said she will “bring back the electric chair” if elected Governor of Tennessee in November.
“This situation is tragic. Christa Pike should have been executed long ago,” wrote Blackburn in a Thursday post to X. “Now, this botched process is extending the pain for the family of Colleen Slemmer.”
Proposing a dramatic change to Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol, Blackburn stated, “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.”
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…
— Marsha Blackburn (@VoteMarsha) October 1, 2026
The Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) failed to execute Pike following a series of legal machinations, beginning with a panel of judges on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals blocking the execution on Wednesday morning in a ruling that determined the court needed to consider whether abuse the prisoner experienced during childhood was weighed during sentencing.
By late afternoon, the U.S. Supreme Court had accepted the appeal filed by Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s office. The appellate court’s decision was quickly vacated by the high court.
Less than an hour after the high court allowed the execution to proceed, TDOC officials proceeded with the execution.
However, despite administering two doses of the lethal injection, Pike survived the execution and was hospitalized. Her attorneys previously claimed that a lethal injection would be made more difficult by their client’s small veins.
After the execution was botched, Governor Bill Lee paused all executions for the remainder of the year.
Pike was the first woman sentenced to execution in Tennessee in as many as 200 years, though The Tennessee Star located historical records that indicate a Tennessee woman may have been executed in 1844. If Pike is executed next year, this would make her the first woman executed in Tennessee in 183 years.
In 1996, Pike was convicted of premeditated murder and conspiracy to kill Slemmer, who she lured to an isolated part of the University of Tennessee agricultural campus. Once alone, Pike forced her victim to remove her blouse, then beat and kicked Slemmer, slammed her head against concrete repeatedly, gagged her with a rag, stabbed or slashed her at least 16 times, carved a satanic pentagram into her chest, and finally killed her using a piece of asphalt to deal a fatal blow to the head.
After Pike killed Slemmer, the murderer dragged the body to a debris pile in an attempt to conceal it, then removed a piece of the victim’s skull as a souvenir.
Her appeals and attempts to reopen her case were only exhausted in 2024.
The doctor who reportedly failed to administer a lethal injection to Tony Carruthers in May was reportedly the same doctor who was unable to successfully preside over Pike’s execution.
A death row inmate in Oklahoma made international news in 2015 after he allegedly discussed intentionally refusing water in order to become dehydrated prior to the execution. It is more difficult to place an intravenous (IV) connection in a dehydrated patient.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Image “Marsha Blackburn” by Marsha Blackburn.
