United States, Christa Pike survives two lethal injections: the executioner fails and the Governor blocks all executions

Nashville – The story of Christa Pike, who survived two lethal injections and was sentenced to death in Nashville prison for the 1995 murder of her partner, is unprecedented. The failed execution prompted Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to suspend all executions scheduled for 2026 (the first scheduled for December 3rd) pending clarification of the fate of the 50-year-old, who is currently hospitalized.

Christa Pike's story continues to spark outcry, following the controversy surrounding her killing for a murder committed when she was just 18 years old. The manner of her execution is now fueling debate in the United States and around the world.

“My arm feels like it’s exploding.” She looked as good as the 50-year-old woman who, yesterday, was injected with two doses of a lethal cocktail in the Nashville prison death chamber, but they didn’t kill her.

Robin Maher, director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said it was an “unprecedented” execution, even considering the many cases of botched executions, most of which were accompanied by excruciating suffering for the condemned, that have occurred in American prison death chambers in recent years.

Witnesses who witnessed the execution: He was moaning and stamping his feet, then they made us go out

Witnessing and reporting on the 'attempted' execution was Tori Gessner, a local TV journalist who was among the witnesses and who revealed that she heard the woman moaning in pain and stamping her feet, while the team administering the lethal cocktail closed the curtains of the glass dividing the death chamber from the witness room to prevent them from seeing what was happening, before they were asked to leave the room without Christa Pike being declared dead.

“It was total chaos,” said Mary Martinez, the mother of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, killed by Pike in 1995, who also witnessed the execution.

The woman's lawyers are calling for a halt to the execution: Cruelty is prohibited by the Constitution.

In an emergency motion to halt the execution, the death row inmate's lawyers wrote that after "two lethal injections," the woman "did not lose consciousness and still had a pulse." They denounced "an unnecessary agony" that constitutes unusual cruel punishment prohibited by the Constitution, and recalled that prison authorities were required by law to immediately initiate measures to resuscitate the woman.

Christa Pike's botched execution is the second this year, albeit for entirely different reasons. In May, the state abandoned the execution of a convicted felon because its officials were unable to find a vein to administer the lethal injection. In Pike's case, her lawyers warned: "We take no pleasure in being proven right, but our concerns have been realized: difficult access to veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical services available when things inevitably go wrong, and all under a protocol shrouded in secrecy," the lawyers said after the botched execution.

Witnesses later saw an ambulance arrive and prison officials confirmed that the 50-year-old was taken “to a hospital outside the prison” without giving further information.

Tennessee governor halts all executions and pushes for review of procedures

The botched execution prompted Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to review procedures and suspend the other execution scheduled for 2026, that of Gary Wayne Sutton, which was scheduled for December 3.

It is unclear why Christa Pike's execution was doubly unsuccessful. The Tennessee Department of Corrections maintains that it correctly followed all required procedures, "complying with every step of the execution protocol required by law and approved by the Attorney General's Office." Specifically, it states that "the substance used for the lethal injection required by the protocol has consistently proven effective, and the protocol does not permit the use of additional procedures beyond those already in place."