Death row inmate Christa Pike survives state's failed execution attempt: what we know

Christa Pike survived the execution attempt after two rounds of lethal injections were administered on Wednesday night at a Nashville prison.

According to the court filings by her attorneys, Tennessee officials have halted her execution and started emergency medical care.

Her legal team issued a health update on late Wednesday, saying Pike was being treated at a nearby hospital and that they had not been updated on her condition.

The chilling details have been emerging after the failed execution witnessed by media persons in the death chamber in a Nashville prison.

The failed execution attempt by the state authorities has led to a widespread criticism from media and civil society, calling it a ‘botched execution.'

“This is one of the worst botched executions in the modern death penalty era," said Robin Maherm, executive director of the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Centre.

Following the reports of failed attempts to execute Pike, Governor Bill Lee halted all scheduled executions for the rest of 2026 and ordered a “comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred.”

On the other hand, the Tennessee Department of Correction said in a statement that prison officials followed execution protocols.

Pike was 18 when she murdered their classmate, Colleen Slemmer, 19, then at Kroxville Job Corps in 1995.

Pike, 50, was set for execution at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, September 30, when an appeals court halted the lethal injection just an hour before the execution after Pike's attorneys filed motions for an emergency stay.

But hours later the Supreme Court overturned that stay, which led the Tennessee Correction authorities to proceed with the execution that resulted in a failed attempt.

The state officials have not yet updated the media on whether Pike was still alive. If so, it would be the second time this year that Tennessee has been unable to carry out an execution.

In May, the state officials called off the lethal injection of Tony Carruthers, a convicted murderer of three people in 1994, after executioners tried and failed to place an IV to administer pentobarbital.