![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/this-undated-photo-provided-by-the-tennessee-department-of-c-JLHVB6D3XNDL7F647SCXK2XK6M.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
This undated photo provided by the Tennessee Department of Correction shows Christa Pike. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Spivey called the process cruel and torturous, saying he was \u201chaunted\u201d by what he saw after the execution team struggled to find a vein for the lethal drugs. He said he counted at least seven needles in her left arm.<\/p>\n
During the struggle to locate a vein, Pike even suggested where they might find a spot, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease try here, please try here,\u201d Spivey recalled her saying. \u201cShe told them over and over, please try higher on my shoulder.\u201d<\/p>\n
An execution fails<\/p>\n
The state tried to execute Pike by lethal injection, but neither the initial nor backup dose of pentobarbital killed her and she was still snoring when the execution chamber\u2019s microphone was cut off more than an hour into the attempt. She was later taken to a hospital for treatment.<\/p>\n
At one point during the execution attempt, she asked prison officials if her arm was supposed to feel that way, though it\u2019s unclear if it was after the first dose entered her body, as officials don\u2019t share that information. Later, more than an hour after the process began and nearly 30 minutes after a backup dose of pentobarbital was administered, she could be heard snoring loudly.<\/p>\n
Later, Republican Gov. Bill Lee indefinitely postponed Pike\u2019s execution and Tennessee\u2019s lone remaining one that had been scheduled for this year. He also ordered an independent review of what happened, calling it \u201cdeeply disturbing”.<\/p>\n
But Pike’s lawyers said such a review would be insufficient.<\/p>\n
Pike, 50, was sentenced to death for a murder she committed at age 18. She would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.<\/p>\n
An appeals court stopped the lethal injection an hour before it was scheduled to begin, but the US Supreme Court overturned that stay hours later.<\/p>\n
It was the second time this year that Tennessee was unable to complete an execution, though in the other case, officials couldn’t find a suitable vein for an IV line so the drugs weren’t administered.<\/p>\n
May Martinez, whose daughter was murdered by Pike and her boyfriend and who traveled to Nashville to watch the execution, told NBC News that \u201cit was a mess”.<\/p>\n
![\"May](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/may-martinez-left-mother-of-murder-victim-colleen-slemmer-wa-ACTQNQCK7FGHZPIQETBGUWXLYI.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
May Martinez, left, mother of murder victim Colleen Slemmer, walks out of Riverbend Maximum Security Institution during a stay of the planned execution of Christa Pike (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Governor halts another 2026 execution<\/p>\n
The failure, which one death penalty expert described as unprecedented, led Gov. Bill Lee to order a review and to indefinitely postpone Pike’s execution and Tennessee’s lone other one that had been scheduled for this year. It also reignited the debate over the state\u2019s execution procedures, including its single-drug lethal injections.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are very few answers this morning. It\u2019s very early,” Lee told reporters at an unrelated event, noting he had received no updates on Pike’s condition. “The people of our state deserve to have those questions answered.”<\/p>\n
He called what happened \u201cdeeply disturbing\u201d and said it appeared prison staff followed procedure.<\/p>\n
Officials gave Pike two doses of pentobarbital, her attorneys said in court filings. The drug has been used in executions in multiple states and by the federal government, but there have been concerns raised about the potential for \u201cunnecessary pain and suffering”.<\/p>\n
The Tennessee Department of Correction said in a statement that it \u201cfollowed every step of the State\u2019s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General\u2019s Office”.<\/p>\n
Tennessee changed its execution method two years ago<\/p>\n
Tennessee announced in 2024 that it was switching from a three-drug series for lethal injections to the single drug pentobarbital. That came more than two years after the state abruptly halted the execution of Oscar Smith and acknowledged it had failed to ensure its lethal injection drugs had been tested properly.<\/p>\n
Robin M. Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said what Pike experienced is \u201csingular and unparalleled\u201d in that she survived long enough to be moved to a hospital.<\/p>\n
Seven other people have survived medical problems due to an execution team’s failure to access a vein to administer lethal injection drugs, but no one has stayed alive after receiving the drugs used in such executions, she said.<\/p>\n
Executions in the US have fallen sharply since the beginning of this century amid growing public opposition and concerns about the costs and the drugs used. But the number of executions nearly doubled last year behind a record increase in Florida.<\/p>\n
The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including a serious incident south of Auckland, fiery protests in France, and a jump off Auckland\u2019s tallest residential tower. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
Pike would have been the 30th person executed in the US this year.<\/p>\n
Pike was awake in the execution chamber.<\/p>\n
Strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber, Pike described herself as at peace.<\/p>\n
When asked if she had any last words, Pike said several things, including, \u201cI\u2019m at peace. I\u2019m ready to be free. … This is a happy day”.<\/p>\n
![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/this-undated-photo-provided-by-may-martinez-shows-her-daught-Z5RG6RNX7BHGTI3RXYY6VONIRQ.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
This undated photo provided by May Martinez shows her daughter, Colleen Slemmer, who was murdered in 1995 in Tennessee. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
But she remained awake, and at one point complained about the feeling in her arm. The chamber’s curtains were closed, suggesting it had been five minutes since the first dose was administered. But they were reopened three minutes later.<\/p>\n
An hour after officials first raised the curtains, witnesses reported that a second dose of pentobarbital was administered. Pike could still be heard snoring behind a closed curtain until the microphone was cut off almost 30 minutes later.<\/p>\n
Lawyers for Pike filed an emergency motion with the Tennessee Supreme Court seeking to immediately halt and stay the execution, saying she was in \u201cunnecessary agony\u201d and the procedure violated her right to be executed free of cruel and unusual punishment. They also filed motions with two other courts.<\/p>\n
Last May, Tennessee officials called off the lethal injection of Tony Carruthers, who was convicted of kidnapping and killing three people in 1994, after executioners tried for over an hour but failed to find a suitable vein for a backup IV line.<\/p>\n
Pike didn’t deny her role in the killing<\/p>\n
![\"In](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/in-this-image-from-video-provided-by-wbir-tv-christa-pike-cr-3YXBXETJU5AHVBZO5WRXODRBQ4.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
In this image from video provided by WBIR-TV, Christa Pike cries after being sentenced to death on March 30, 1996 in Knoxville (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Pike and her boyfriend were convicted of the fatal stabbing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a classmate. The killing stoked fears of Satan worship because of a pentagram carved on Slemmer\u2019s body.<\/p>\n
Pike\u2019s boyfriend wasn\u2019t eligible for the death penalty because he was 17 at the time of the killing and received a sentence of life in prison. He was denied parole last year.<\/p>\n
Pike didn’t dispute that she helped kill Slemmer, but supporters argued that Pike’s age at the time of the murder, her mental illness and her allegations of severe sexual abuse should be considered. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder after the killing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt took me numerous years to even realise the gravity of what I\u2019d done,\u201d she once said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Christa Pike was in critical condition and receiving \u201clifesaving care\u201d at a hospital, her lawyers said, a day…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[67,42,43,64,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-618268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-north-america","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}