Tennessee Halts Executions After Christa Pike Survives Lethal-Injection Attempts

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee halted executions for the rest of 2026 and ordered an independent review after death-row prisoner Christa Pike survived two attempts to execute her by lethal injection Wednesday.

Prison officials attempted to administer two lethal doses of pentobarbital before Pike, 50, was taken to a hospital. Her condition was not disclosed. In court filings, her lawyers said she required “life-saving measures.”

Lee said Thursday that he was “highly disappointed” by the failed execution and that a third-party review would determine what happened. He did not identify who would conduct it. The pause affects the execution of Gary Sutton, which had been scheduled for Dec. 3.

The Tennessee Department of Correction said it followed every step of the state’s approved execution protocol. It said the chemical had been consistently effective and that the protocol did not permit procedures beyond those carried out Wednesday.

Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Pike was 18 when she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, beat, tortured and killed Slemmer. Pike would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.

The episode was Tennessee’s second failed execution attempt in 2026. Officials called off Tony Carruthers’ execution in May after staff could not find a vein, and he received a one-year reprieve. Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn subsequently called for Tennessee to reinstate the electric chair as an execution method.