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A scheduled execution in Tennessee ended in chaos on Wednesday night after the state failed to put Christa Pike to death despite administering lethal injection drugs. Pike, 50, the only woman on Tennessee’s death row, was later transported to an outside medical facility. Her attorneys confirmed she was receiving hospital treatment, though her precise condition remained unclear.
A spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Correction confirmed officials moved Pike to an off-site medical facility but did not directly answer questions about whether she was alive. The failed execution came just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the state to proceed.
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What Witnesses Described Inside the Death Chamber
Journalists who witnessed the procedure described deeply troubling scenes. They reported hearing Pike snoring, complaining of pain and repeatedly kicking her feet. At one point, she knocked the sheets off her body. Curtains to the chamber closed at least twice, leaving witnesses able to hear only sounds from inside.
At 7:34 p.m., Pike reportedly said, “My arm feels like it’s about to burst open.” She then asked, “Does this happen like that?” according to Tori Gessner, a reporter and anchor at WKRN Nashville who has witnessed five executions in the state. Gessner told reporters at a news conference that “nothing about today was normal, typical, at all.”
John North, an investigative producer at WBIR television in Knoxville, said the situation clearly did not unfold as planned. “It appeared that this did not go like they thought it was supposed to go,” he said. “When we left the building, so far as we knew, she was probably still alive.”
In a federal court filing seeking to halt the execution, Pike’s lawyers stated that witnesses saw executioners inject “both syringes of lethal injection chemicals,” yet Pike remained conscious with a heartbeat. An ambulance arrived at the prison and later departed. Online federal court records confirmed that medical aid was being administered.
Governor Orders Review as Victim’s Mother Reacts with Fury
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, a Republican, issued a statement ordering “a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred.” He also confirmed that the state’s final scheduled execution of the year would not proceed as planned.
May Martinez, the mother of Pike’s victim Colleen Slemmer, spoke to NBC News early Thursday morning. She described the failed attempt bluntly. “It was a mess,” she said. Martinez added that officials gave victims’ family members little information before asking them to leave. “We didn’t know anything until we got up to the office and saw the commissioner,” she said. “And he said that it didn’t work and she’s on her way to the hospital.”
When asked what message she had for the governor and attorney general, Martinez did not hold back. “They f—– up,” she said. Martinez had wanted the execution carried out and expressed frustration with state leadership. She also noted that Pike showed no remorse during the proceedings. “Not nothing about what happened to Colleen,” she said.
The Department of Correction defended its actions. A spokesperson said the state “followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office” and that “the lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective.” Meanwhile, Pike’s attorneys said in a statement that “tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution.”
Robin M. Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, told the Associated Press that what Pike experienced is “singular and unparalleled.” Wednesday’s failed attempt also marked the second botched execution in Tennessee this year. In May, officials granted a one-year reprieve to Tony Carruthers, convicted in three 1994 killings, after executioners could not find a vein for a backup IV.
A Day of Legal Battles Before the Execution Attempt
The legal fight over Pike’s execution stretched across the entire day. About an hour before her originally scheduled 10 a.m. execution in Nashville, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to a short reprieve. The court said it needed time to review claims that Pike had suffered severe sexual abuse as a child — abuse the state did not dispute at a special hearing in August.
The appeals court said it needed to “properly analyze the parties’ fully briefed arguments and resolve the issues on the merits.” However, the state attorney general’s office then asked the Supreme Court to intervene. Officials argued the execution needed to proceed to “avoid rewarding Pike’s abusive delay tactics.”
The Supreme Court sided with the state and vacated the lower court’s order. Three justices dissented — Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. In her dissent, Sotomayor wrote, “I see no reason to shortcircuit the ordinary process of appellate review, particularly in light of the grave consequences of an erroneous decision.” The execution process began at around 8 p.m. after the Supreme Court’s decision.
The execution warrant for Pike expired at midnight local time. The Department of Correction did not immediately say whether officials would attempt another execution or when that might happen.
Pike’s Background and Her Own Words Before the Attempt
Pike does not deny killing Slemmer in 1995. She was 18 at the time. She and two teenage accomplices tortured, slashed and fatally beat Slemmer, who was 19. The case drew widespread attention after investigators said someone carved a pentagram into Slemmer’s chest. Pike also reportedly bragged to another student that she kept a fragment of the victim’s skull as a souvenir.
If the execution had succeeded, Pike would have been the first woman Tennessee put to death in more than 200 years. Her supporters, however, argue the state should weigh her age at the time of the crime, her mental illness and her history of severe sexual abuse.
Before learning that Governor Lee denied her clemency request on Monday, Pike wrote a letter to NBC News. Her spiritual adviser shared the letter. “Whether my clemency is granted or not, I am at peace,” she wrote. “I am not afraid to die. I’m only nervous about the process.” Pike has spent more than three decades on death row.
