What happened in the failed execution of Christa Pike – and what next?

ByJames FitzGerald and Kayla Epstein. Updated 33 minutes ago.

Key points

• Pike, now 50, was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder a year earlier of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.
• Correction 1 October: This article originally referred to the inmate executed by the state of Louisiana in 1947 as Willie Smith.
• In 2022, more than a third of executions throughout the US were botched or highly problematic, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
• Colleen's mum, May Martinez, drove 11 hours from Florida to attend the execution, she informed Residents, external, alongside with her husband Raul.
• The attempted execution of Pike was not the first in Tennessee in 2026 that did not go to plan.

US convicted murderer Christa Pike is in a critical condition in hospital after Tennessee authorities failed to execute her by lethal injection, her lawyer notes.

For context, the case of Pike, whose attempted execution on Wednesday had already been the subject of a high-profile legal battle, raised a number of questions, including what went wrong? And what happens next?

For context, a third-party review has been ordered by state Governor Bill Lee. This person has halted executions in Tennessee for the rest of the year. How did it go wrong?

Pike was scheduled to be put to death in Tennessee on Wednesday evening local time. The injections were allowed by the Supreme Court at the 11th hour.

Pike was given two injections of the drug pentobarbital, but her legal team remarked these failed to stop her heartbeat and that she could still be heard snoring. Tennessee halts executions after death row inmate Christa Pike survives hers. US death row inmate survives execution attempt after two lethal injections.

In practice, the Tennessee Department of Correction has defended the method it applied, saying "the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out".

Meanwhile, the state protocol does not clearly specify what should happen if an inmate remains alive after a second dose, according to the AP news agency.

Authorities are yet to say whether they will try again to execute Pike. They have not explained why the dosage given to Pike was non-fatal.

Since part of Pike's execution happened behind a curtain, opponents of the death penalty remarked it was challenging to know what went wrong.

Maya Foa, the head of international legal organisation Reprieve, remarked: "Lethal injection relies on secrecy at every stage, to hide the violence of the state taking a human life."

While one of her lawyers stated on Wednesday that she was being given "life-saving measures" in hospital, the Tennessee correction department remarked Pike had been taken to an off-site medical facility.

On Thursday, lawyer Randy Spivey remarked to journalists: "We don't have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment."

Dr Joel Zivot, a professor at the Emory University School of Medicine, informed the BBC in an email: "It's very possible that as a consequence of the delay of the beginning of resuscitation she will have a brain injury."

Historically, the US Supreme Court has not halted second attempts at executions, remarked John Mills, a lawyer who works with inmates sentenced to death.

After their attempt to kill him by lethal injection failed two years earlier, in 2024, it allowed Alabama to proceed with a second execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith, using an experimental oxygen deprivation method.

Meanwhile, a Supreme Court case from 1947 allowed the state of Louisiana to send Willie Francis, a teenager whose first execution attempt failed when he was 17 years old, back to the electric chair.

Meanwhile, the court discovered a second execution would not violate the Constitution's prohibitions against double jeopardy or cruel and unusual punishment and Francis was executed aged 18.

"If the question is, is it probable the federal courts would intervene in a second attempt? I'm afraid the answer is a resounding no, " Mills remarked of Pike's case.

Pentobarbital is a potent sedative that slows down the body, including the nervous system. Doctors sometimes employ it as a treatment for certain conditions, but in high doses it can additionally be applied as a lethal injection to cause death.

Its employ in lethal injections came under renewed scrutiny last year after a US federal administration review during the Biden administration triggered concern regarding the drug's potential for "unnecessary pain and suffering".

Notably, the Biden administration banned its apply in federal executions, but that did not bind individual states such as Tennessee. It can choose their own methods. Why the death penalty is on the rise in US.

As pharmaceutical firms have resisted the employ of their products for such purposes, over recent years, states have discovered some drugs needed for lethal injections harder to come by.

In practice, the Tennessee correction department has not specifically addressed an allegation from Pike's legal team that the pentobarbital it applied was "degraded".

But the department remarked in an official note the lethal injection chemical had "consistently been effective". Has this happened before?

Meanwhile, the attempted execution of Pike was not the first in Tennessee in 2026 that did not go to plan.

For context, the execution of Tony Carruthers. This person was convicted of kidnapping and murdering three individuals in 1994, was postponed in May after staff were unable to find a vein for a lethal injection. He was granted a year's reprieve by the governor.

In 2022, more than a third of executions throughout the US were botched or highly problematic, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Who was Colleen Slemmer?

Colleen Slemmer's killers met at a job training camp for troubled teens.

She was discovered with an inverted pentagram – a symbol associated with satanic groups – carved into her chest.

Pike had accused Colleen of insulting her and trying to steal her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp. This person was 17.

Two other residents at the camp afterwards testified that Pike had bragged concerning the murder and indicated them a piece of Colleen's skull.

She remarked: "I wanted her to remember who Colleen was and what they've done and never forget that thought, no matter where she goes."

Shipp was given a life sentence with the possibility of parole and he remains in prison.

He was spared the death penalty for his part in the attack since he was not yet legally an adult at the time.

Correction 1 October: This article originally referred to the inmate executed by the state of Louisiana in 1947 as Willie Smith. We have amended the article to create clear that his name was Willie Francis.

In short, what happened in the failed execution of Christa Pike is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.