by Alexa Cloutier ’28 on October 8, 2026
News - National & Global
In a shocking turn of events, Christa Pike is being treated at a hospital after surviving two doses of lethal injection. Pike was only 18 when she was sentenced to death for the brutal torture and murder of Colleen Slemmer. Pike and her boyfriend were convicted of killing Slemmer in 1995.
Hours leading up to her scheduled execution, Pike’s attorneys argued that the death penalty was not an appropriate sentence for her because, when the crime was committed, she was a teenager with untreated mental illness and a history of trauma and sexual abuse. As a result, the scheduled execution was delayed for about nine hours as the Supreme Court considered a federal appeals court’s ruling to halt the execution to allow judges to review whether the jury that sentenced Pike to death should have considered her past trauma, age, and mental health concerns. The Supreme Court ultimately overturned this ruling, meaning the execution would proceed that night. This would have been Tennessee’s first execution of a woman in over 200 years.
On Wednesday, Sept. 30, Pike was scheduled to be executed. That night, she was taken to the hospital after surviving two doses of lethal injection in what has been described by many as a botched execution attempt. As a result, Tennessee’s governor has halted further executions this year and ordered an independent review. Observers in the chamber reported a disturbing scene of Pike talking, singing, and snoring for over 90 minutes. May Martinez, the mother of Slemmer, told the Associated Press, “‘I didn’t get justice for my daughter…’ ‘I watched the whole thing. She was awake. She was laughing. She was moving her head, moving her feet. She was trying to sit up.’”
Days after the failed execution attempt, Pike’s lawyers are reporting that she has remained unconscious and on a ventilator. Pike has remained in the hospital under guards as doctors work to remove barbiturate pentobarbital from her system. Minimal information has been made public, and as of Oct. 4, her prognosis is still unknown.
It is unclear what happens next. If Pike survives, will she still be on death row? If so, is attempting to execute someone, failing to do so, and providing lifesaving medical care just to kill them again not cruel and unusual? Is attempting to execute someone twice for the same crime double jeopardy? Does the death penalty truly deliver justice to victims and their families? The implications of Pike’s failed execution attempt have opened a Pandora’s box of legal loopholes and ethical questions surrounding the death penalty. As Pike remains alive, Tennessee and the nation are left wondering: when a system like the death penalty fails, can justice simply try again? Pike’s failed execution has led to a new subject on trial—the legal and ethical limitations of the death penalty itself.