Christa Pike Survives Execution Attempt, Will Tennessee Try Again?

Christa Pike was set for execution on September 30, and despite appeals, Tennessee went ahead with it, but she didn’t die. Will the state try and execute her again? Read on to find out more.

Death Penalty For Murder

Christa Pike was sentenced to death at age 19 after she, her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, and friend Shadolla Peterson lured classmate Colleen Slemmer into the woods in 1995.

Forensic evidence showed that Slemmer had been beaten and stabbed, and an inverted pentagram was carved into her chest.

Pike was also accused of crushing Slemmer’s skull with a piece of asphalt and keeping a fragment of her skull.

Christa Didn’t Die

The long legal fight isn’t over. Christa Gail Pike remains alive, according to The Guardian, after a botched lethal injection attempt at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Tennessee.

The Tennessean reported that the state halted the execution attempt soon after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for it to go forward.

Last Ditch Effort To Stop It

Pike’s lawyers went back to the U.S. Supreme Court with emergency petitions between September 25 and 29. They argued that the jury didn’t hear enough about her severe childhood trauma and PTSD when she was sentenced.

They also argued that strapping her down for lethal injection triggered a “near-perfect replication of the sensory conditions of her rapes”.

The Supreme Court turned down that initial request on September 29. On the morning of September 30, a 6th Circuit panel granted a short stay at 8:17 a.m. to review arguments.

USA Today noted that Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti rushed to SCOTUS to vacate it. Skrmetti argued the stay rewarded “abusive delay tactics” and harmed Slemmer’s family.

SCOTUS lifted the stay just before 7 p.m. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, writing that “Tennessee’s desire to expedite Pike’s execution by a few days or even weeks cannot outweigh her ‘fundamental interest in [her] own life.”

A Failed Attempt

The state proceeded, but the attempt turned into a medical crisis. Media witnesses reported Pike was still alive and snoring more than 40 minutes after receiving two doses of pentobarbital.

Officers halted the process and rushed her off-site for emergency medical care. Her defense team filed an emergency motion as the execution attempt unfolded.

Dr. Joel Zivot, a medical expert retained by Pike’s lawyers, later told the BBC that she likely never achieved a sufficient blood level of pentobarbital to cause apnoea and cardiovascular failure.

Pike’s lawyers argued that she suffered in “unnecessary agony” in violation of the Eighth Amendment.

The Tennessee Department of Correction said it followed its lawful protocol. They confirmed she was moved to an off-site medical facility while officials assessed what went wrong.

Reactions to the Botched Execution

When news was shared by the BBC on YouTube, true crime followers reacted to the bizarre turnaround.

“She’s going to be so confused when she wakes up in the hospital,” one person posted.

Here are a few more responses from the discussion:

• “Imagine waking up from that.”
• “So barbaric … 2 wrongs don’t make it right.”
• “Jesus. This is why it should be banned completely. Doctors are the only people who could do this with any assurance, and they can’t be involved because it’s blatantly against the Hippocratic oath…”
• “Torture first…and then taken to hospital to make her better?….so they can try it again later?…Bizarre!”

Will She Be Executed Again?

A retry isn’t happening anytime soon. Gov. Bill Lee paused all executions for the rest of 2026 and ordered an independent review of the state’s lethal injection procedures. Pike’s execution warrant expired at midnight.

The state must now ask the Tennessee Supreme Court for a new warrant before setting another date, per the BBC.

Any new execution date would need to be at least seven days after the court issues its order.

And there’s another complication. The 6th Circuit still has questions to consider over Pike’s childhood abuse claims.

For now, Pike is alive. Tennessee’s attempt to execute her failed, she ended up in hospital, and the state has stopped executions while it works out what went wrong.

Your thoughts? Join the discussion and then come back for more true crime news and updates.