Christa Pike, Tennessee’s Only Woman on Death Row, Survives Execution But May Have Brain Damage

A failed execution in Tennessee has left unanswered questions about what went wrong and the inmate’s condition.

Christa Pike was taken to a hospital after surviving two injections of pentobarbital at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on Wednesday, September 30. A medical expert retained by the 50-year-old’s legal team warned that a delay in resuscitation could have caused a brain injury, according to a BBC report published on Thursday, October 1.

Dr. Joel Zivot, a professor at Emory University School of Medicine, explained Pike likely never had enough of the drug in her bloodstream to stop her breathing and cause cardiovascular failure. “It’s very possible that as a consequence of the delay of the beginning of resuscitation she will have a brain injury,” Zivot said, per the report.

One of Pike’s attorneys said she was “being provided life-saving measures” in the hospital, according to the BBC.

Pike’s lawyers sought an emergency court order during the execution attempt after the injections failed to stop her heart, The Tennessean reported.

Media witnesses described hearing Pike speak and continue breathing during the procedure. Reporter Tori Gessner said, “Nothing about today was normal, typical, at all,” the outlet reported.

Per the report, Governor Bill Lee ordered a third-party review and halted the state’s remaining execution scheduled for 2026.

Meanwhile, the Tennessee Department of Correction defended its handling of the procedure. “The Tennessee Department of Correction followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office,” spokesperson Dorinda Carter said in a statement, The Tennessean reported.

Pike, Tennessee’s only woman on death row, was sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1995 killing of Colleen Slemmer, 19, in Knoxville. Pike was 18 at the time of the crime.

As Globe previously reported, her attorneys had challenged the injection procedure before the execution attempt, warning that her small veins and thrombocytosis, a blood disorder, could make it difficult to administer the drugs and cause unnecessary suffering.

Her legal team also requested an all-female team, citing her history of assault and post-traumatic stress disorder. Her clemency petition urged officials to consider her childhood trauma, mental health diagnoses and age when the crime occurred.

Before the attempt, Pike expressed concern about how the procedure would unfold. “Whether my clemency is granted or not, I am at peace. I am not afraid to die. I am only nervous about the process,” she wrote in a letter shared with NBC News.

As of early Thursday, Pike’s condition remained unclear. “Christa is being treated at a nearby hospital,” her attorneys said in a statement, per The Tennessean. “We have not been informed as to her condition.”