Tennessee’s attempt to execute Christa Pike fails, leaving her in critical condition and the execution date in doubt.

Nashville, Tennessee, 3 October 2026– It’s now not clear when Christa Pike will be executed. The only woman on Tennessee’s death row was set to be executed on 30 September 2026 by the state’s Supreme Court. Governor Bill Lee has now ordered the execution delayed until at least next year, to allow an independent investigation, after a botched attempt. A replacement date has not been determined. Pike is still alive in the hospital, in critical condition, as of Friday. 

The scheduled date

The state Supreme Court ordered Pike’s date in a series of orders in the fall of 2025, as well as dates for three other inmates. It would have been the first woman to be executed in Tennessee since 1820, and the fourth in the state’s history. Governor Lee has ended executions since 2022, when an investigation revealed that prison staff were disregarding their own lethal injection procedures, but they restarted earlier in 2025 using a new protocol. 

Pike’s lawyers opposed the date on many fronts. They challenged state officials, claiming the execution wouldn’t be constitutional because of her medical issues, including a blood disease. A review by an anaesthesiologist of her case concluded that it would almost certainly cause bloody froth to build up in her lungs. They also submitted a 226-page petition for clemency that requested the governor reduce her sentence to life in prison without parole. Governor Lee vetoed the clemency. UN experts have called for the United States and Tennessee to stop carrying out the execution and commute his sentence. They all referred to the abuse she suffered as a child and the mitigating evidence which they alleged her trial lawyers had not presented to the jury: nearly three decades of solitary confinement. 

What happened on 30 September, 1991?

The execution was set for Wednesday, September 30, at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in the evening. The curtains to the chamber were pulled back at 7:27 p.m., and Pike was strapped to a gurney, media witnesses said. She was conscious after the first injection; one journalist from WKRN in Nashville saw her pointing at her arm and asking if this was the normal procedure. 

The complications started with the IV line, her attorneys say. Attorney Randy Spivey, who came to observe the execution, said that executioners had been trying to insert an IV line into her for an hour, and that seven needles had been inserted into her left arm. He said that was only to be expected considering her lifelong blood condition. Two doses of pentobarbital, the highest amount allowed in Tennessee’s protocol, were administered to her, her lawyers said. Several witnesses reported that they could hear her breathing and snoring loudly after the drugs were given even when the curtains were closed. 

Her condition now

Pike was in critical condition and being treated for life-threatening conditions on Thursday, according to her lawyers. Her attorneys stated Friday she was “still in a critical condition, unconscious and alive on a ventilator. Her defense team said they had not been able to make any direct contact with her while she was hospitalized. She is the first person to survive after being injected with lethal doses of execution drugs, the Death Penalty Information Center said. 

The state’s response

Governor Lee announced that he would suspend scheduled executions and launch a third-party review. State lawmakers will look into the failed attempt and consider changes to the state’s execution process, according to House Speaker Cameron Sexton. Pike’s attorneys are unhappy with the review. It does not go far enough, they said, due to her failure to do so and her solitary confinement for over 20 years. Her lawyers also noted they had told the state and courts how her medical conditions would inflict “agonizing death”, and those were “now rejected. 

This wasn’t Tennessee’s sole error of the year. Executioners were unable to find a vein to give a fatal injection to inmate Tony Carruthers in May. The two incidents will likely put strain on the state’s protocol as the review and the legislative inquiry continue. 

The crime in the case

Pike was found guilty of murdering someone at the age of a teenager. She was convicted of the 1995 torture and murder of another Job Corps student, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, in Knoxville. Pike was 18 when they were there. She preserved a piece of Slemmer’s skull and exhibited it to her classmates. She was convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 and sentenced to death. A second got life with parole, and a third testified against Pike and was given probation. She was also found guilty of attempted murder in 2004 when she attacked another prisoner in the prison. 

She has been defended on the grounds that her youth and background should have spared her. These lawyers have cited her age, growing up with physical and sexual abuse and neglect, and subsequent diagnoses of bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. She is the last person ever put to death for a crime committed at the age of 18 in Tennessee. 

What comes next

There are still a number of unanswered questions. No prognosis has been released, and her lawyers have not been able to contact her. There is no published time frame for the governor’s review beyond “at least next year”, and the legislative inquiry has just been announced. If a new execution date is set, it would need to be granted by the Tennessee Supreme Court, and her lawyers will probably appeal that ruling on the basis that it already has been rejected. I could not find any information in any of the reporting I did that addressed the second attempt, and that is a point that is open.

As of yet, “Christa Pike’s execution date” doesn’t have an answer, since the date of 30 September has come and gone and there is no new date. That may change later on, so consult in-line reports.

References: 

1. NPR, “Tennessee is set to execute a woman for the first time in 200 years” (29 Sep 2026): https://www.npr.org/2026/09/29/g-s1-145408/tennessee-woman-execution
2. The Hill, “Christa Pike in critical condition after failed execution attempts: Lawyer” (2 Oct 2026): https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/6125537-christa-pike-tennessee-botched-execution-update/
3. Yahoo News, “Christa Pike in critical condition after surviving execution by 2 lethal injections, attorney says”: https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/article/tennessee-death-row-inmate-christa-pike-survives-2-doses-of-execution-drugs-081613268.html
4. The Washington Post, “What to know about Christa Pike, her failed execution and what happens next” (2 Oct 2026): https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/10/02/what-know-about-christa-pike-her-botched-execution-what-happens-next/
5. WSMV, “Christa Pike live updates” (1 Oct 2026): https://www.wsmv.com/2026/10/01/christa-pike-live-updates-what-know-she-remains-critical-condition-after-failed-execution-her-grotesque-1995-torture-murder-classmate/
6. ABC7 Chicago, “Christa Pike update: Convicted killer unconscious and on ventilator in hospital”: https://abc7chicago.com/story/is-christa-pike-alive-convicted-killer-critical-condition-botched-execution-tennessee-attorneys-say/19900009/
7. WBUR Here & Now, “Christa Pike remains in critical condition after failed execution” (2 Oct 2026): https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2026/10/02/christa-pike-failed-execution
8. WSMV, “Here’s when Christa Pike’s execution is scheduled in Tennessee” (28 Sep 2026): https://www.wsmv.com/2026/09/28/heres-when-christa-pikes-execution-is-tennessee-becoming-states-first-woman-executed-more-than-200-years/
9. Axios Nashville, “Execution date set for only woman on Tennessee’s death row” (1 Oct 2025): https://www.axios.com/local/nashville/2025/10/01/execution-date-christa-pike-tennessee-death-row
10. Fox News, “Tennessee set to execute first woman in more than two centuries”: https://www.foxnews.com/us/tennessee-set-execute-first-woman-more-two-centuries
11. Nashville Tennessean via Yahoo, “Christa Pike sues over execution protocol while death date looms”: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/christa-pike-sues-over-execution-145117246.html
12. Death Penalty Information Center, Christa Pike case page: https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/tag/christa-pike
13. UN OHCHR, “USA: UN experts urge immediate halt to Christa Pike’s execution”: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/09/usa-un-experts-urge-immediate-halt-christa-pikes-execution