A Tennessee death row inmate has survived an attempted execution after authorities were unable to complete the lethal injection procedure, prompting the state to halt further executions for the year and order an independent review.
Christa Gail Pike, 50, was scheduled to be executed at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on Wednesday for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.
The execution proceeded after a series of last-minute legal challenges failed to secure a stay. Pike was administered two doses of pentobarbital, the single-drug method used under Tennessee’s execution protocol. However, the procedure was ultimately halted after officials were unable to confirm her death.
Pike was subsequently transported to an off-site medical facility for treatment. The Tennessee Department of Correction said it followed the state’s approved execution protocol and that the procedure did not permit additional measures beyond those carried out.
The failed execution triggered an emergency legal response from Pike’s lawyers, who sought to stop the process while it was underway. Media witnesses were also removed from the viewing area as the situation unfolded.
Pike was convicted for the killing of Slemmer, whom she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, encountered at a job-training programme for troubled teenagers. Pike was 18 at the time of the killing and was sentenced to death in 1996.
The case had attracted renewed attention because Pike was set to become the first woman executed by Tennessee in more than two centuries.
Governor Bill Lee had rejected her request for clemency before the scheduled execution, allowing the process to proceed after the courts declined to intervene.
Following the failed attempt, Governor Lee ordered a comprehensive third-party investigation into the circumstances surrounding the procedure and announced that Tennessee’s remaining scheduled execution for the year would not go ahead as planned.
The incident is the second problematic execution attempt in Tennessee in 2026. In May, the execution of Tony Carruthers was postponed after prison medical staff were unable to establish intravenous access for the lethal injection.
Tennessee officials have maintained that the Pike procedure was conducted in accordance with the state’s established protocol. The Department of Correction said it would cooperate with the review into what happened during the attempted execution.
Pike remains on death row while authorities and the courts determine the legal and procedural consequences of the failed execution.
