Christa Pike survives two lethal injection doses as Tennessee execution fails

Tennessee death row inmate Christa Gail Pike remains alive and is receiving treatment at a hospital after authorities failed to carry out her execution following the administration of two doses of a lethal injection drug.

Pike, 50, was scheduled to be executed on Wednesday, September 30, at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.

This would have been Tennessee's first execution of a woman in more than 200 years.

According to court filings and accounts from media witnesses, prison officials administered two doses of pentobarbital during the execution attempt.

However, Pike did not die. Witnesses reported that Pike remained alive and could be heard breathing and snoring after the second dose.

Her lawyers subsequently filed emergency motions seeking to halt the execution, arguing that the failed procedure had subjected her to unconstitutional treatment.

Pike was later taken by ambulance from the prison to an off-site medical facility, where she is being treated.

The Tennessee Department of Correction said it had followed the state's established execution protocol, which had been approved by the state Attorney General's Office.

The department also said the lethal-injection drug used in the protocol had previously been effective.

The incident has prompted immediate scrutiny of Tennessee's execution procedures.

Governor Bill Lee ordered a comprehensive third-party review of what happened and announced that the state's remaining scheduled execution for 2026 would not proceed this year.

Pike's execution had already faced a series of last-minute legal developments.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Sixth US Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily halted the execution while considering claims concerning Pike's history of childhood abuse and whether that history had been adequately considered during her sentencing.

The US Supreme Court later lifted the stay, allowing Tennessee to proceed with the execution.

Three justices dissented from that decision, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor arguing that the appeals court should have been allowed to further consider Pike's claims.

Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow student at a Job Corps training centre in Knoxville.

Pike was 18 when the crime occurred. Her boyfriend, who was 17 at the time, was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole.

Her lawyers had also argued that her history of severe childhood abuse and mental illness should have been considered when assessing her sentence.

Pike has acknowledged responsibility for Slemmer's death and expressed remorse in her clemency petition.

The failed execution marks the second time this year Tennessee has been unable to complete a lethal-injection procedure.

In May, officials abandoned the execution of death row inmate Tony Carruthers after they were unable to establish intravenous access.