Christa Pike Survives Execution Attempt After Supreme Court Ruling

Christa Pike, a 50-year-old death-row prisoner in Tennessee, United States, has survived an attempted execution by lethal injection, prison officials confirmed.

Pike had been scheduled to be executed on Wednesday for the 1995 murder of her 19-year-old classmate, Colleen Slemmer. The execution was intended to make her the first woman executed in Tennessee in at least 200 years.

According to her lawyers, Pike was taken from the prison by ambulance and transported to a hospital following the failed execution. They said they had not yet been informed about her condition.

Court documents indicate that Pike was given two doses of pentobarbital. Journalists who witnessed the execution reportedly heard her snoring, breathing heavily, gasping and complaining of pain. Witnesses also said she kicked her feet repeatedly, causing the sheet covering her to fall off.

The execution was initially delayed when the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a 2–1 stay shortly before the scheduled procedure. The court wanted to consider Pike’s claim that allegations of childhood sexual abuse had not been fully considered during her sentencing.

However, the US Supreme Court later overturned the stay, allowing Tennessee officials to proceed with the execution. The court’s conservative majority did not provide an explanation, while three liberal justices dissented. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the decision prevented the appeals court from properly considering Pike’s claims.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has ordered a comprehensive independent review of what happened during the attempted execution. He also announced that the state’s remaining scheduled execution for this year would not take place.

The Tennessee Department of Correction said officials followed the state’s approved execution procedures.

Pike and her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, were convicted of killing Slemmer in 1995 at a job-training facility in Knoxville. Shipp, who was 17 at the time, received a life sentence with the possibility of parole, while Pike was sentenced to death.

Pike has acknowledged killing Slemmer but her lawyers and supporters have argued that her age, mental health history and allegations of severe childhood sexual abuse should have been considered in determining her sentence.

Following the killing, Pike was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. In a clemency petition, she expressed remorse for the crime and acknowledged the impact it had on Slemmer’s family and others.

Tennessee’s attorney general had opposed delaying the execution, arguing that further postponement would cause additional trauma to Slemmer’s family.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 18 women have been executed in the United States since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, accounting for about 1 percent of all executions.

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