Tennessee halts remaining 2026 execution after Christa Pike survives lethal injection

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee halted the state’s remaining scheduled execution for 2026 and ordered an independent review after officials failed to execute Christa Gail Pike despite administering two doses of pentobarbital.

Pike, 50, remained alive after Wednesday night’s procedure at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville and was taken to a hospital for medical care. Her condition was unclear Thursday morning. Her attorneys said she still had a heartbeat and could be heard snoring after the second dose. Media witnesses also reported that she remained conscious during part of the procedure, at one point lifting her head and asking officials whether discomfort in her arm was normal.

The Tennessee Department of Correction said it followed every step of the state’s approved execution protocol. The protocol provides for a second set of drug syringes if an inmate remains alive after the first but does not specify further procedures if the second dose also fails.

Lee said the third-party review would determine what occurred, adding that executions must be carried out legally, constitutionally and effectively.

Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. She would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. A federal appeals court stayed the execution shortly before it was scheduled, but the U.S. Supreme Court later allowed it to proceed. Authorities have not said whether they will attempt to execute Pike again.