A Davidson County judge granted a motion requiring Tennessee to preserve evidence from the lethal-injection attempt that Christa Pike survived on 30 September. Local station WSMV reported she was conscious and speaking nearly a week later.
A judge in Nashville ordered Tennessee on Wednesday to preserve evidence from the lethal-injection attempt that Christa Pike survived, WSMV reported. The station said the order followed a motion from Pike's lawyers.
Pike, 50, was the only woman on Tennessee's death row. She was convicted of the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. Prison officials said she survived the 30 September procedure after two doses of the injection drugs. Reuters reported that witnesses described her gasping and snoring, and that lawyers sought a halt while she was still alive.
Governor Bill Lee, who had denied clemency, suspended executions for the rest of the year and called for an outside review, the Nashville Tennessean reported via Reuters. The attempt was the second in Tennessee in 2026 to fail. A May execution was stopped after staff could not find a usable vein.
WSMV said Pike was conscious and speaking nearly a week after the attempt. Other accounts said she had been hospitalized in critical condition, intubated, and that she regained consciousness on 6 October. Those medical details are not restated as independent findings here.
The Wednesday order is a preservation ruling, not a decision on whether the state may try again. No new execution date was set in the reports used here.
People Sentiments Mixed
- Pike's lawyers asked the court to preserve evidence from the failed procedure.
- Governor Bill Lee called for a third-party review and suspended executions for the rest of the year.