Convicted murderer Christa Pike is still alive following the State of Tennessee’s attempt to carry out her execution. Pike was given two lethal injections following a brief stay of execution on Wednesday, September 30, but the state’s executions were halted in the aftermath.
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Christa Pike Alive After Two Lethal Injections During Execution Attempt
The State of Tennessee failed to execute Christa Pike at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution on Wednesday. Pike was still breathing after being given two doses of the lethal injection drug pentobarbital, per The Tennessean.
The 50-year-old was given the drug during an execution attempt at the facility in Nashville, according to NBC News. Pentobarbital is used for lethal injections because of its effects on the central nervous system, which suppresses breathing and induces comas at high doses. The National Library of Medicine states that two to ten grams of pentobarbital is fatal within 15 to 30 minutes.
Pike was given a second dose approximately 30 minutes after the first injection, at around 8:00 p.m. She was given a stay of execution about one hour beforehand as the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reviewed claims that Pike was sexually abused as a child. However, the Supreme Court did not stop the execution, and the state went ahead. The Death Penalty Information Center shared a statement after the execution attempt from attorneys Randy Spivey and Kelly Gleason. The lawyers previously noted at an August hearing that Pike was diagnosed with a vein condition known as thrombocytosis, according to PBS. Subsequently, they argued that it would be challenging to locate a vein.
“Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution,” the statement reads. “We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms. Pike proved to be true: 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.”
WKRN reporter in Nashville, Tori Gessner, witnessed the execution attempt and said that Pike claimed that her arm felt like it would “burst.”
“My arm feels like it’s about to burst open,” said Pike to Gessner. “Does this happen like that?”
Other witnesses added that they could hear Pike breathing and snoring after receiving the lethal pentobarbital injections. “Nothing about today was normal, typical, at all,” said Gessner.
Robin Maher of the Death Penalty Information Center told The New York Times:
“This event is the worst we’ve seen and unlike any other botched execution in the modern era.”
Tennessee Department of Corrections Issues Statement
The Tennessee Department of Corrections issued a statement claiming the State’s execution protocols were followed and have “consistently been effective.”
“The Tennessee Department of Correction followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office,” reads the 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. Christa Pike has been transported to an off-site medical facility.”
Tennessee also botched the execution of Tony Carruthers earlier this year when they couldn’t locate a vein for the IV. According to WSFB, the same doctor, Dr. Mark Fowler, oversaw both Pike’s and Carruthers’ failed executions.
Why Is Pike On Death Row?
According to the Tennessee Department of Corrections, Pike is the only woman on death row in the state. She was convicted of first-degree murder for the 1995 death of Colleen Slemmer. Slemmer was a classmate of Pike’s in the Jobs Corps education program in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Pike and two teenage accomplices, Tadaryl Shipp and Shadolla Peterson, allegedly beat, stabbed, and tortured Slemmer at the University of Tennessee Agricultural campus. The teenagers also drew a pentagram into Slemmer’s forehead and chest with a box cutter, per ABC4 News. In addition, the killers took a fragment of the 19-year-old’s skull as a “souvenir.”
Colleen Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, said of the botched execution to NBC News:
“They went to try to execute her, and she didn’t die…. It was a mess,” she said. “They didn’t say anything, and then, all of a sudden, they asked all the victims to leave. And we left…. We didn’t know anything until we got up to the office and saw the commissioner, and he said that it didn’t work…. and she’s on her way to the hospital…. They f*cked up.”
She also told the outlet that Pike never showed remorse for killing her daughter.
“Not nothing … about what happened, you know, to Colleen,” Martinez added.
Shipp was 17 at the time and is serving life, while Peterson, who was the lookout during the murder, served a year in jail, per Clarion.com.
Pike recently said of the crime:
“I was a mentally ill 18-year-old kid. It took me numerous years to even realize the gravity of what I’d done.”
What Happens Now Following Botched Execution?
Republican Gov. Bill Lee said that the last remaining execution scheduled in Tennessee for 2026 will be “halted” as he ordered a “third-party review” to find out what happened during the execution attempt.
“Tennesseans deserve a justice system that is fair, that’s consistent, that is faithfully administered,” he said. “My responsibility is to uphold the sentences that Tennessee juries have handed down, even when it’s difficult, and that is exactly what we intend to do in the days ahead.”
The governor also called the incident “deeply disturbing.”
Pike was taken to the hospital after the botched execution attempt, but she is reportedly in critical condition, per WKRN. Another lawyer for Pike, Steve Farrell, said:
“We will never know exactly what physical pain and what mental pain she was going through, but that was her biggest fear as the survivor of sexual abuse, that she would be pinned down, prodded, poked, cut for a prolonged period of time during which time she could be reliving her past trauma,” he said. “For a traumatized person to be put through this, no one should have to do that. That was cruel and unusual punishment.”
Spivey gave an update on Pike’s condition at a news conference on Thursday, October 1, per the Associated Press. However, the details were sparse.
“We don’t have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment,” said Spivey. “But we know she is alive right now.”
Before her execution attempt, Pike said:
“I am not afraid to die…. I’m only nervous about the process.”
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