On a Wednesday morning in Nashville, the state’s solitary scheduled execution unraveled when Christa Pike a 50-year-old woman on death row, remained conscious after two administrations of the anesthetic pentobarbital. The attempt, timed for 10 a.m, was intended to end a murder conviction dating back to 1995, but instead resulted in a rare and unsettling scene of a living inmate snoring on a gurney.
What went wrong during the lethal injection
Execution officials at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution followed the protocol that allows a second set of drug syringes if the first dose does not cause death. In Pike’s case, both sets were delivered, yet she stayed responsive, raised her head, and even queried the sensation in her arm. Media witnesses reported that “she was clearly very alive” and continued to snore until the audio feed was cut at 8:53 p.m. After the botched procedure, Pike was removed by ambulance and taken to a hospital, where she received treatment, though her lawyers said they were not promptly informed of her condition.
Legal wrangling and immediate fallout
The execution was halted just an hour before it was to begin when the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued a stay to consider whether Pike’s claims of childhood sexual abuse had been fully evaluated at sentencing. The state’s Attorney General’s Office appealed, and the Supreme Court briefly cleared the way for the execution before the stay was reinstated. Following the failure, Governor Bill Lee issued a statement ordering a “comprehensive, third-party review” and announced that the remaining scheduled execution for the year would be cancelled.
Robin M. Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center described the incident as “singular and unparalleled,” noting that while seven inmates have suffered IV-related complications in the past, none have survived after receiving the lethal drugs. The Tennessee Department of Correction reiterated that it adhered to the approved protocol, even though the policy does not specify actions after a second dose fails to cause death.
Background of the case and broader implications
Pike and her then-boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp were convicted of the 1995 stabbing and beating of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville, a crime that attracted national attention because a pentagram was carved into the victim’s body, feeding the era’s “satanic panic.” While Shipp, then 17, received life imprisonment with parole eligibility, Pike was sentenced to death, making her the only woman on Tennessee’s death row in more than two centuries.
The botched execution reignited debates over capital punishment for juveniles and individuals with mental illness. Pike’s supporters highlighted her diagnosis of bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, arguing that she was a “mentally ill 18-year-old” when the crime occurred. Assistant Federal Defender Stephen Ferrell pointed out that other 18-year-olds in Tennessee have had death sentences vacated, underscoring the rarity of Pike’s case.
Earlier in May, the state experienced a separate failure when officials could not locate an IV for Tony Carruthers, a 57-year-old inmate, after more than an hour of attempts, leading to the cancellation of his execution. Both incidents have placed the state’s reliance on a single-drug protocol—pentobarbital—under intense scrutiny, especially after Tennessee shifted from a three-drug cocktail in.
Victim’s mother May Martinez traveled to Nashville hoping to witness the execution, saying she had waited decades for justice. After the botched attempt, she expressed lingering anguish but declined further comment. The episode has also drawn commentary from national figures, with some urging a moratorium on executions and others calling for a return to older methods such as the electric chair.
