Explained: Why didn't Christa Pike die despite two lethal injections? The first such case in 207 years

Christa Pike was scheduled to be executed in Tennessee on Wednesday evening but remained alive after two injections of pentobarbital, breathing, making snoring sounds and only complaining that her arm hurt.

Pike, sentenced to death for torturing and killing 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995, had said she was at peace as the lethal injection began.

Pike, now 50, was 18 when she committed the murder. She would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. Instead, she left prison in an ambulance, not a hearse. Here’s what happened during the botched execution and why Pike did not die.

What happened during the execution?

The Associated Press witnessed the failed execution. Pike was already strapped to the gurney, with an IV inserted in her arm, when prison officials raised the curtain to the execution room at 7:27 p.m.

Minutes passed. Pike raised her head, looked around and smiled.

Then she said her arm was hurting and asked a prison official whether it was supposed to feel that way.

At 7:37 p.m., about 10 minutes after the execution began, she sighed. The IV in her arm was being fed from a control room adjacent to the death chamber.

At 7:46 p.m., officials closed the curtain.

Three minutes later, it rose again. Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol calls for a second round of pentobarbital if the inmate is not deceased after the first round.

But Pike was still alive. She kept breathing for more than an hour. Pike appeared to be losing consciousness and began making a snoring sound.

At about 7:56 p.m., her head raised slightly off the gurney and turned to the side. She kept breathing.

Officials closed the curtain again at 8:06 p.m.

For the next 40 minutes, Pike could be heard from behind the curtain, making what sounded like rhythmic snoring.

At about 8:22 p.m., Pike’s attorney Randy Spivey said he demanded access to a telephone to contact other lawyers on the team. He said he demanded that the execution be halted and that Pike receive life-saving medical care.

Fire trucks and ambulances arrived outside the prison at around 9:14 p.m. Pike’s attorneys later said she had been taken to a hospital and was receiving treatment. By Thursday afternoon, they said she was in critical condition.

Why didn’t the lethal injection work?

Tennessee authorities have not explained what went wrong.

The Tennessee Department of Correction said the department followed protocol. “The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective, and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out this evening,” the agency said.

Stafford Smith, who has attended several executions in support of clients, told Al Jazeera there were two probable reasons for the failure.

“The first is that the drugs were probably out of date,” he said, adding that this was something “we’ve been observing a lot for the last 10 years”.

Smith said drug companies make sedatives such as pentobarbital to help people and save lives, and are often opposed to their drugs being used to execute people.

The other possibility, Smith said, involved Pike’s veins. “She’s been through a lot of abuse and drug abuse. So it might have been very hard to find her veins and get a needle into them,” he said.

Governor orders review

Gov. Bill Lee ordered a review and postponed another execution scheduled for later this year, calling what happened in the death chamber “deeply disturbing.”

For Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, the failed execution meant the sentence had not been carried out.

“I didn’t get justice for my daughter,” Martinez told the AP.

“I watched the whole thing. She was awake,” she said. “She was moving her head, moving her feet. She was trying to sit up.”

“It didn’t work the first time they gave her a shot. It didn’t work the second time so she’s in the hospital and alive.”

“This isn’t justice for Colleen.”

About the Author

Sanchari Ghosh is an Assistant Editor at Mint with over 12 years of experience in journalism, specialising in personal finance, DLT & DeFi, geopolitics and foreign policy, with a particular emphasis on how these areas intersect. <br> She writes extensively about how money works in everyday life—helping readers navigate personal finance decisions. <br> As AI reshapes investing behaviour, capital is increasingly flowing into decentralized ecosystems, redefining how assets are managed, traded, and valued. She focuses on explaining how money flows within frameworks like Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), DeFi protocols, and crypto markets—while also exploring what the future of money could look like in a trustless, programmable financial world. <br> She also focuses on immigration-related issues, simplifying complex topics around visas, passports, overseas financial planning, and the many practical challenges Indians face while moving or living abroad. <br> Alongside personal finance, Sanchari has a strong understanding of international politics, contemporary and historical conflicts, and global state decisions. She closely tracks how geopolitical developments influence economies, markets, and individual financial choices, bringing together finance and global affairs in her reporting. <br> She began her career as a desk editor, which gave her a strong foundation in news writing. Over time, her interest naturally shifted toward personal finance. Before joining Mint in 2020, she worked DNA, The Times of India, Outlook Money, BloombergQuint, and ETMoney. At Mint, she got an opportunity to expand her coverage to include immigration and geopolitical developments while continuing to closely follow personal finance trends and market movements.As a journalist, she is committed to accuracy, intellectual rigour, and fairness. <br> She is an English Major and her work took her across cities including Delhi, Mumbai, and Pune. Living independently from an early age gave her firsthand experience in managing life and money on her own. This practical exposure sparked her strong interest in personal finance. <br> Outside the newsroom, Sanchari is a sports enthusiast who regularly plays lawn tennis and squash. In her younger years, she was also a national-level badminton player.

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