Christa Pike unconscious and intubated after failed execution
This story raises questions about governance, accountability, and American values.
By Friday, Christa Pike was unconscious and intubated, a breathing tube doing what her own lungs should have done. She was supposed to die Wednesday. Instead, the state of Tennessee tried twice to kill her by lethal injection and failed both times.
New Republican Times Editorial Board
The lawyers for a Tennessee woman who survived an execution attempt said on Friday she is unconscious and intubated following the failed procedure this week. Christa Pike, 50, was scheduled for execution on Wednesday, but is still alive after two attempts to end her life by lethal injection.
Both attempts failed, and Pike’s lawyer said in a court filing that she is in critical condition at a Nashville hospital. Christa Pike’s Tennessee execution halted by court an hour before it was scheduled Blackburn calls to reinstate electric chair after Tennessee death row inmate’s botched lethal injections How legislatures and the courts sabotage the death penalty According to Pike’s attorneys, both of her arms were swollen and blistered when she arrived at the hospital.
Pike is “intubated, on a ventilator, and unconscious,” her lawyers said. In a Davidson County court filing, Pike’s attorneys requested the evidence showing the “incompetent and reckless actions” during the execution be preserved.
Additionally, the filing reviewed what Pike’s attorneys claim was a “botched” execution attempt. “Two days ago, the State of Tennessee attempted to execute Ms. Pike,” the filing said. “Many facts from that botched execution have been publicly reported: the TDOC IV team attempted to gain IV access by using at least seven needles; at one point, Ms.
Pike herself offered guidance on where the IV team could attempt access; one needle was bent at a 90-degree angle when it was removed.” Pike was reportedly administered two syringes containing lethal doses of pentobarbital and could be heard “crying and whimpering” before saying her arm felt like it was “about to burst open.” Randy Spivey, one of the attorneys for Pike, emphasized during the press conference on Thursday that Pike’s attorneys had made the point throughout the lawsuit that Pike’s underlying medical conditions, including a blood-clotting condition, put her at risk for an unusually drawn-out, cruel execution by lethal injection.
Spivey called on Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN) to commute Christa’s death sentence immediately. Lee ordered an independent review of the failed execution and canceled the rest of the state’s executions scheduled for the year.
The governor had previously denied Pike’s request for clemency. Pike was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy charges and sentenced to death in 1996, when she was 20. CHRISTA PIKE WAS SET TO BE THE FIRST WOMAN TO BE EXECUTED IN TENNESSEE IN 200 YEARS BEFORE BOTCHED ATTEMPTS: WHAT TO KNOW Pike was convicted and sentenced for murdering her classmate, Colleen Slemmer, when she was 18, alongside Pike’s then-17-year-old boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, who was sentenced to life in prison.
Pike’s execution was supposed to take place at 10 a.m. Wednesday, but the court delayed the execution to consider Pike’s challenge regarding her history of childhood sexual abuse. After the Supreme Court allowed the execution to take place, with three justices nominated by Democratic presidents dissenting, the botched execution occurred on Wednesday night.
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New Republican Times Editorial Board
By Friday, Christa Pike was unconscious and intubated, a breathing tube doing what her own lungs should have done. She was supposed to die Wednesday. Instead, the state of Tennessee tried twice to kill her by lethal injection and failed both times. The woman who tortured another young woman to death is now the latest example of a government unable to carry out its own sentence cleanly.
The details matter. Pike was 19 when she and another teenager lured Colleen Slemmer into the woods, then beat, slashed, and killed her. She has spent decades on death row. This column doesn't mourn her. But we can say plainly that a botched execution is a failure of the state, not a reason to pretend the death penalty is the problem. The families of victims deserve better than a process that turns an execution into a medical crisis.
Tennessee's response matters too. The governor can step in. The courts can rule. But watching a condemned inmate survive her own lethal injection isn't justice and isn't deterrence. It's chaos. The state owes everyone a better answer than this. Either do the thing lawfully and competently, or say you won't. Stumbling through two attempts makes the whole system look inept.
Maybe that's what some on the left want. They will use Pike's living body as a prop in a crusade against capital punishment. But the answer to a botched execution isn't to abolish the penalty. It's to fix the process. Christa Pike earned her sentence. Colleen Slemmer never got a second chance. The least the state can do is carry out justice without making another mess.
Commentary written with AI assistance by the New Republican Times Editorial Board.