Tennessee: Christa Pike was convicted of murder in 1995. She was sentenced to death for killing 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.
According to the reports, during her execution on Wednesday, 30th Sept., Christa was left audibly snoring and alive after she received two doses of pentobarbital, a lethal drug.
Christa was taken to a medical facility later that evening and is suspected to have suffered a brain injury after the delay in her resuscitation.
Dr. Joel Zivolt, a professor at Emory University of Medicine and a medical expert hired by Pike’s legal team, told the BBC, “It's very possible that as a consequence of the delay of the beginning of resuscitation she will have a brain injury.”
Christa Pike’s execution was scheduled for Wednesday evening local time in Tennessee. The injections were brought into the Supreme Court at the 11th hour.
According to the reports, her team said that she was given two doses of pentobarbital; however, that was not enough to make her heart stop.
According to Gray News, Pike’s legal team argued back in August that Christa suffers from a blood clotting condition that has small veins, which would make it hard for the IV to be inserted during the execution.
After the botched execution, Pike was taken to a hospital, and as of Thursday, she is unconscious, intubated, and on a ventilator.
According to ABC News, on October 2, 2026, Pike remained critically ill, unconscious and on a ventilator. Her attorneys also reported significant injuries to both arms, describing them as swollen, burned and blistered.
According to the reports, the officials at the prison tried to start the IV by using seven needles, and Pike could be heard crying and whimpering when the two doses were given to her.
Her lawyers told the BBC that no one noticed that the IV was not inserted properly, her veins were blown, and that pentobarbital was entering Pike’s body in whole or in part.
Pike’s attorney Stephen Ferrel said that they knew something like this was coming.
Pike’s lawyer also alleged that the quality of pentobarbital must be degraded, due to which its potency might be lost.
The Tennessee Department of Correction said on September 30 that officials had followed the state's established execution protocol and that the lethal-injection chemical had consistently been effective. However, the department did not publicly explain why the execution attempt failed.
Dr. Mark Fowler oversaw Pike’s execution. Earlier this year, Dr. Mark was part of another failed execution. According to Gray News, Dr. Mark was also part of the failed death execution of Tony Carruthers.
Tony’s execution was called off in May because medical staff couldn’t find his vein.
According to the reports, Tony Carruthers was convicted of kidnapping and murdering three people in 1994.
An eyewitness to Carruthers's attempted execution told People Magazine that Dr. Fowler was present during the failed execution. Dr. Fowler was unable to find Carruthers’s vein, so he tried to insert it into his neck, after which Carruthers was heard screaming, “It hurts.”
A medical reviewer also expressed concern, noting that the doctor admitted in a 2025 deposition to having performed only about 12 central line placements in his entire career, with none since 2013.
Dr. Fowler told NBC News in June that every attempt was made to reduce the discomfort of Carruthers.
Dr. Joel Zivot told the BBC that the only viable reason for pentobarbital not to work during Pike’s case "is that the pentobarbital blood level was never high enough to cause death."
He explained that the drug probably pooled in the tissue under Pike's skin.
rather than flowing into her bloodstream. Her thrombocytosis, a condition that causes blood clots, likely made things worse by blocking the injection site and preventing the pentobarbital from reaching her veins.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee ordered an independent review of the execution procedures following the failed attempt. He also announced that the remaining scheduled execution in the state would not take place in 2026. The review is intended to establish what went wrong during Pike's execution attempt.
On October 2, 2026, Pike's attorneys filed an emergency motion in Davidson County Chancery Court seeking to preserve evidence related to the execution attempt. According to the attorneys, the evidence is necessary to establish what happened during the procedure and protect Pike's legal rights.
(Rh/ARC)