Execution of Christa Pike fails

Pike historically survived two lethal injections, creating a constitutional conundrum in Tennessee

Photo Courtesy of Zachary Caraway- Pexels

On the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 30, Christa Pike’s execution was scheduled to take place, and after a brief halt to the procedure, “The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the pause…allowing the execution to proceed in the evening,” according to PBS News. The execution was based upon Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol, which PBS News reports as involving “officials intravenously administer[ing] two 50 mL syringes of pentobarbital…before waiting for five minutes. If the prisoner has not died, the state can administer another set of injections.” However, this “protocol does not detail what happens if a person doesn’t die following the second dose,” as is the case with Pike.

The University of Tennessee Libraries digital encyclopedia, Volopedia, details the murder of Colleen Slemmer (19) on Jan. 12, 1995: at 18 years old with her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp (17), and a fellow Job Corps student, Shadolla Peterson (18), Christa Pike partook in the “lengthy beating and torture, the cutting of a pentagram on Slemmer’s chest, and the taking of a piece of Slemmer’s skull by Pike as a souvenir.” Pike “created the plan because she thought Slemmer was interested in her boyfriend (Shipp).” Though, according to NBC News, Shipp “testified at his post-conviction hearing that he was the one who carved a pentagram into Slemmer’s chest.”

As reported by Volopedia, Christa Pike was sentenced to death, Tadaryl Shipp was “convicted of murder,” and Shadolla Peterson was “convicted of being an accessory and received a sentence of parole” because she “turned informant.” The Washington Post adds that Tadaryl Shipp “was 17 and ineligible for a death sentence,” and for this reason “[h]e received life in prison and is now eligible for parole.” Additionally, according to PBS News, Pike was “convicted separately of attempted first degree murder after she assaulted a fellow prisoner” in 2001 while serving her life sentence. 

Both Christa Pike’s sentencing and execution make her case a historic one. NBC News states, “Pike, the lone woman on death row, was set to be the first female in more than 200 years the state had put to death” in the state of Tennessee. Furthermore, PBS News reports that “no prisoner in the modern era has survived the administration of lethal injection drugs.” Prior to Pike’s failed execution, the Death Penalty Information Center records show that “[s]even people…had survived failed execution attempts, but in all of those, the execution was called off due to difficulties setting an IV line, and no drugs were ever administered.”

Another factor that makes Christa Pike’s case unique is her history of mental illness and sexual abuse. The Washington Post notes that “[d]eath penalty opponents and advocates for Pike had pushed for her life to be spared, citing her age at the time and the physical and sexual abuse she suffered in her childhood.” Meanwhile, according to NBC News, Pike’s lawyers claim “that if such evidence of abuse were presented at a trial now, a death sentence would not be guaranteed.”

At this moment in time, a cause for the failed execution has yet to be officially determined. However, the Death Penalty Information Center quotes a statement released by Christa Pike’s lawyers in which they said Pike’s concerns “proved to be true” about “difficult vein access, blown veins, [and] degraded pentobarbital.” The same article claims that “witnesses said Ms. Pike continued breathing, snoring, and occasionally lifting parts of her body off the gurney,” a clear sign that the execution was abnormal. 

Reported by NBC News, one of Pike’s lawyers, Randall Spivey, “said he counted at least seven needles used in Pike’s left arm alone, ‘one of which appeared to be bent when it was pulled from her arm after an unsuccessful attempt.’” Spivey said “that Pike’s right arm had turned purple after the second round of the drug pentobarbital,” and Pike’s lawyers had “also learned of ‘blistering and burning around the sites of the injection.’”

The failed execution of Christa Pike comes after Tony Carruthers’ failed execution in May 2026, during which PBS News reports, “Tennessee called off Tony Carruthers’ execution after officials were unable to establish an IV line despite attempting to do so for more than an hour.” Additionally, “Carruthers’ lawyers said the doctor who was tasked with establishing the IV hadn’t placed one in a patient in over a decade and did not have hospital privileges.” The Death Penalty Information Center concurs that the doctor in question, Dr. Mark Walton Fowler, “confirmed in a deposition that he has no current hospital privileges, meaning no hospital has authorized him to practice or perform procedures at its facility.” Dr. Fowler is the common thread between the cases, as he was “confirmed to be overseeing Ms. Pike’s execution” as well.

Currently, Christa Pike is still receiving treatment. For several days, Pike was on life support, but on Oct. 6, The Guardian reported Pike’s lawyers saying, “‘Against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking and continues to receive critical medical care…Her recovery is medically unprecedented. Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery.’” According to BBC News, while Pike was on life support her lawyers “called on the governor to commute her death sentence to a life sentence ‘at the very least’” in light of the “‘torturous attempt at executing her.’”

The status of Pike’s case is unknown at this time because “‘[w]e’re in uncharted territory’” as Robin Maher, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, told USA Today. Maher said “‘The U.S. Supreme Court has not decided whether a second execution attempt would violate the constitution since 1947.’” The execution in question is of Willie Francis, in which the Supreme Court “ruled that the state could put Francis back in the electric chair, writing that ‘accidents happen for which no man is to blame.’” The key difference in Pike’s instance is that her “attorneys warned Tennessee that personnel would have trouble with Pike’s unusually small veins and would struggle to deliver a fatal dose of pentobarbital.”

Regardless of the status of Pike’s case, however, CNN reports that the commissioner of the Department of Correction for the Tennessee prison system, Frank Strada, “will step down this month.” Additionally, PBS News adds that “Republican Gov. Bill Lee, who said the incident was ‘deeply disturbing,’ halted executions for the remainder of the year and ordered a third-party review.”