Tennessee has a lethal injection problem.

The state tried and failed twice to execute Christa Gail Pike by lethal injection on Sept. 30, but Pike survived two separate doses of what was supposed to be a lethal amount of pentobarbital.

She was taken from the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution’s execution chamber to a Nashville hospital, where she remained unconscious and on a ventilator for six days.

Late last week, however, her attorneys reported Pike was now conscious, talking, walking and “very aware” the state tried and failed to kill her.

“She is angry and confused about everything right now,” attorney Randy Spivey said at a news conference last week. “She is very aware of what they did to her up to a point.”

On Friday, Pike was discharged from the hospital and returned to Riverbend.

Pike, who was set to be the first woman executed in Tennessee in nearly 200 years, is now the only person in the nation to survive after receiving lethal injection drugs during an execution.

Pike’s botched execution comes on the heels of another lethal injection gone wrong by the same Tennessee Department of Correction execution team. The state tried in May to carry out death by lethal injection of Tony Carruthers, but the execution team repeatedly failed to establish IV lines.

Pike’s attorneys have said her arms are burned and blistered from the attempted lethal injections, but it’s not yet clear what went wrong. Some doctors have theorized most of the pentobarbital went into her arm instead of her bloodstream.

Her attorneys had warned that Pike had a blood clotting disorder that could prevent the drugs from entering her bloodstream, but their plea for either commutation or an alternate method of execution fell on deaf ears.

Investigations and good-byes

Davidson County Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles on Thursday ordered the state to save all evidence related to the two failed execution attempts, including syringes, IV lines, emails, witness accounts and recordings.

Gov. Bill Lee defended the execution team immediately after Pike was taken to the hospital but has since ordered a probe into what happened. The state Attorney General’s Office has tapped former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton to head that probe.

Lee’s handpicked TDOC chief, Frank Strada, announced he was stepping down from the post later this month, saying it was “in the best interest of Tennesseans as the independent review moves forward.” Lee hired Strada in 2023 despite his role in three controversial executions in Arizona involving issues with establishing IV lines.

It’s not clear if Dr. Mark Fowler, who oversaw the failed executions of Pike and Carruthers, remains on the execution team.

Questions and (some) answers

What went wrong in the death chamber is one of several questions looming over this unprecedented state failure. Here’s a few more:

  • Has the botched execution left Pike incompetent to make legal decisions? The answer will require medical and mental health testing, expert analysis and, perhaps, a judicial decision.
  • Can the state legally try to execute her again? A 1947 U.S. Supreme Court ruling suggests yes. In that case, Louisiana’s attempt to execute teenager Willie Francis had failed because the electric chair malfunctioned. In a 5-4 ruling, the High Court opined it was not a violation of the 8th Amendment’s guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment for Louisiana to try a second time since the failure was accidental, not intentional.
  • Is an execution do-over automatic? No, the state Attorney General’s Office will have to secure another death warrant, and Pike’s legal team will undoubtedly mount a fierce legal fight against it.
  • Who is footing the bill for Pike’s medical care? Pike, 50, is a ward of TDOC, having been locked up for 30 years in the 1995 torture killing of Colleen Slemmer, 19, in Knoxville. That means the state, and, therefore, its taxpayers are on the hook for her medical bills.
  • Are there alternatives to Pike’s execution by lethal injection? Gov. Lee could commute Pike’s death sentence to life without parole. Tennessee law currently authorizes lethal injection as the primary execution method. Those sentenced to death before 1999 can request to die by electric chair, but its use is otherwise only authorized if the state cannot obtain lethal injection drugs.

Pike attorney Stephen Ferrell said he hopes the governor will commute Pike’s sentence. Such a move would mean Pike would die behind bars – instead of a death chamber – and the court battle would be over for Slemmer’s loved ones.

“This has been a serious punishment for a very serious and awful crime,” Ferrell said. “I don’t think that attempting another execution is going to bring justice.”

Jamie Satterfield is an investigative journalist covering crime, courts, and the stories behind the headlines. Jamie Satterfield: Digging deeper. Finding the story behind the story every week. Read more from Jamie and follow her work on Substack.

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