Christa Pike remains unconscious and on a ventilator in hospital after Tennessee failed to carry out her execution, according to her attorneys.
Pike, 50, received two doses of pentobarbital during the attempted lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on Wednesday. She survived the procedure and was taken to hospital for treatment.
In a court filing, Pike’s lawyers said medical staff were working to treat the effects of the drug and clear it from her system. They also said she had suffered significant injuries to both arms.
Her legal team has asked a Tennessee court to require the state Department of Correction to preserve evidence from the execution attempt. The request is intended to protect evidence that could help establish what happened during the procedure and support Pike’s legal rights.
The lawyers allege that problems with the intravenous lines meant the pentobarbital did not enter Pike’s bloodstream as intended. They said the execution team then prepared and administered a second set of syringes instead of first resolving the problem with the intravenous access.
Those claims are allegations made by Pike’s attorneys. Tennessee officials have said the state followed its execution procedures, while Governor Bill Lee has ordered an independent review of the failed attempt.
Lee has also paused executions in Tennessee following the incident. The failed attempt was the state’s second troubled execution in 2026, adding further scrutiny to its lethal-injection procedures.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. She was 18 when the crime was committed and received a death sentence in 1996.
Her scheduled execution had been the subject of several legal challenges. Pike would have been the first woman executed by Tennessee in more than 200 years.
For now, Pike’s medical condition and the circumstances surrounding the failed execution remain under review. Her lawyers have asked that evidence from the procedure be preserved while investigations and legal proceedings continue.
