This report is compiled from published reporting, court filings and official statements. The author did not witness the execution.
Tennessee could not execute Christa Gail Pike on Wednesday night, September 30, 2026. The state gave two doses of pentobarbital at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, and she was still alive.
Pike, 50, and her then-boyfriend were convicted of the 1995 killing of Colleen Slemmer, a 19-year-old fellow student, who was stabbed and beaten on the University of Tennessee’s agricultural campus in Knoxville. Pike was 18. She was due to be the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
On Friday her lawyers said she is unconscious, intubated and on a ventilator, with significant injuries to both arms, and that hospital staff are working to clear the drug from her system. That is the lawyers’ account. A department spokesperson said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
Governor Bill Lee called the failed execution “deeply disturbing,” ordered a comprehensive third-party review, and halted the state’s one remaining 2026 execution, that of Gary Wayne Sutton on December 3. He had denied Pike’s clemency request on September 28.
The night, in order
Pike was set to die at 10 a.m. A federal appeals court panel stayed the execution that morning so it could review her claim that her trial lawyers failed to present evidence of her history of child sexual abuse. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the stay hours later.
Media witnesses entered the viewing room at 6:41 p.m. and waited nearly an hour with the curtain closed, which reporters who had covered earlier Tennessee executions called unusual. The curtain opened at 7:26 p.m. In her final statement Pike said she was at peace.
At 7:34 p.m. she said her arm felt like it was about to burst open and asked whether that was normal.
The curtain dropped at 7:46 p.m. and reopened three minutes later, when Pike began to snore loudly. It closed for the last time at 8:05 p.m. Witnesses heard her rhythmic snoring until they were escorted out at 8:53 p.m. For most of the process the curtain was closed, so witnesses could not see how the doses were given.
What her lawyers say
Randy Spivey, one of Pike’s attorneys, attended the execution. He said he counted at least seven needle sticks in her left arm alone, one of which appeared bent when it was removed. He said her right arm turned purple after the second round, and that the legal team was told of blistering and burning around the injection sites.
Pike’s lawyers had warned the courts that a blood disorder and small veins could cause complications. In an emergency motion filed Friday in Davidson County Chancery Court, they asked for an order requiring the Department of Correction to preserve all evidence of the attempt, and a judge has granted an expedited hearing with no date set. A source who witnessed the attempt told NBC News there was no oxygen or mask in the chamber, and that staff had to fetch them from a prison clinic. Her lawyers have urged Lee to commute her sentence.
The state’s response
The state’s protocol calls for a second set of syringes if the inmate is not deceased after the first, which is why Pike received two doses. The protocol also says there is no deviation from it except by order of the commissioner, according to a copy obtained by the Death Penalty Information Center.
The Department of Correction said it followed every step of that protocol. It said the drug has consistently been effective and the protocol allows no additional procedures. It has not said what went wrong. Lee told reporters on Thursday that, as far as he knew, the department followed the protocol exactly.
For the family of Colleen Slemmer, who had waited more than 30 years, the night brought no finality. Her mother, May Martinez, told NBC News it was “a mess.”
The second failure this year
On May 21, 2026, officials called off the execution of Tony Carruthers after about 90 minutes of failed attempts to establish IV access, and Lee granted a one-year reprieve. His sister, Dr. Tonya Hervey, later filed a complaint with the Tennessee Department of Health alleging malpractice and torture, and saying he suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed. Those are her allegations; the department has not ruled on them.
In June, nine Republican state senators asked Lee for an independent review of the Carruthers failure. In July, more than 50 medical professionals urged him to suspend executions. He did not order a review then.
Dr. Mark Fowler, the physician in the Carruthers attempt, was also the overseeing physician for Pike’s execution, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. In a deposition he said he last placed a central line around 2013. What he did on Wednesday night has not been made public.
What is not known
Pike’s lawyers say the second dose was given at about 8 p.m.; witnesses say it had been given by 8:26 p.m. The department has not said what went wrong. Lee has not named who will lead the review, and the department has not said whether anyone will be held accountable. Lee has not said what will happen to Pike’s sentence.
