U.S. death row inmate survives lethal execution attempt

Christa Pike attends a hearing via a video hookup at Knox County Criminal Court in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Aug. 11. | Jessica Tezak / The New York Times

Reuters

Oct 1, 2026

Christa Pike, convicted of murdering a schoolmate three decades ago, survived Tennessee’s effort to execute her by means of lethal injection late on Wednesday, prison officials said, foiling the state’s first attempt to put a woman to death in two centuries.

Pike’s condition following the ordeal was not immediately made known, and it was not clear after she was taken for medical treatment from the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville what legal avenues her lawyers or the state might pursue next.

The Tennessee Department of Correction defended its handling of the high-profile execution, which had been opposed by human rights experts due to Pike’s age at the time of the crime, her history as the victim of childhood sexual abuse and untreated mental illness.

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