Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has ordered suspending the planned executions in the state for the rest of 2026 and arranged an independent investigation into the failed execution procedure of Christa Pike, who remained alive after receiving two doses of pentobarbital.
Pike, 50, was due to be executed on Wednesday 30 September for her conviction for the murder of Colleen Slemmer, committed in 1995, when Pike was 18. If done, it would have been the first execution of a woman in Tennessee in more than two centuries.
According to court documents quoted by media such as CBS News, officials administered Pike two doses of the drug used for the lethal injection. However, the convicted woman remained alive and, according to her lawyers and media witnesses, her breath could be heard in the execution chamber.
In the face of the situation, the defense filed an emergency request to stop the procedure and asked for Pike to receive medical care.
The Tennessee Correction Department argued that its officials followed the current state protocol. The procedure provides for the administration of a second dose if the person has not died after the first, but does not include additional steps once both doses have been administered.
BREAKING: “I’ve witnessed, I believe, 5 executions in Tennessee. Nothing about today was normal, typical at all.”Shocking new details emerge from the failed attempt to execute Christa Pike, the 50-year-old prisoner who has spent 30 years on Tennessee’s death row. pic.twitter.com/gDofxP1Lz5
Independent research
Following the interruption of the execution, Governor Bill Lee announced a thorough and independent review to determine what happened during the procedure.
"To carry out a legally imposed sentence is one of the state's most important responsibilities," Lee said in a statement, adding that Tennessee residents expect these sentences to be executed legally, constitutionally and effectively.
The decision also affects the execution of Gary Wayne Sutton, which was scheduled for December 3, 2026.
Pike’s case occurs a few months after another attempted execution that failed to be carried out in Tennessee.
In May, authorities suspended the execution of Tony Carruthers after medical staff could not establish the intravenous pathways needed to administer the drugs. The episode also led to questions about the procedures used by the state.
The Tennessee Correction Department’s official website notes that the state modified its lethal injection protocol after an independent review and that, from December 2024, the procedure envisages the use of pentobarbital as a single drug. The executions were resumed in Tennessee in May 2025.
