US Death Row Inmate Survives Two Lethal Injections in Failed Execution Attempt

Christa Pike, a 50-year-old death row inmate in Tennessee, survived an attempt to execute her by lethal injection after prison officials administered two doses of pentobarbital.

Pike was taken by ambulance to a hospital after the failed execution at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on Wednesday, September 30. Her lawyers said they had not been informed of her medical condition after she was transported from the prison.

Media witnesses who observed the procedure from a separate room reported hearing Pike breathing and loudly snoring after the injections. Witnesses also reported hearing gasps and complaints about discomfort before the execution chamber was closed. According to reports, the second dose of pentobarbital had been administered by about 8:26 p.m., but Pike could still be heard until the microphone was switched off at approximately 8:53 p.m.

The Tennessee Department of Correction said officials followed every step of the state’s established execution protocol. The department said its protocol calls for a second set of syringes to be administered if an inmate is not deceased after the first set, but does not provide for additional procedures after the second set.

Pike had been scheduled to become the first woman executed by Tennessee in more than 200 years. She was convicted in the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow student at a Job Corps training facility in Knoxville. Pike was 18 when the crime occurred.

The execution itself had been surrounded by last-minute legal developments. A federal appeals court temporarily halted the execution shortly before it was due to take place, but the US Supreme Court later overturned that stay, clearing the way for Tennessee to proceed.

Following the failed execution, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee ordered a comprehensive third-party review of what happened and announced that the state’s remaining scheduled execution would not take place this year.

The incident is also the second time this year that Tennessee has been unable to complete an execution. In May, officials abandoned the lethal injection of Tony Carruthers after execution personnel reportedly spent more than an hour attempting to establish an intravenous line.

Pike’s lawyers have challenged the execution attempt in court, arguing that she was subjected to unnecessary suffering and that the state violated constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment. The legal consequences of her survival, including whether Tennessee could seek another execution date, remain unresolved.