Long before Christa Pike was brought into Tennessee’s execution chamber, prison leaders reviewed and approved a backup plan detailing exactly what to do if the first attempt at lethal injection failed. But the backup plan also failed, and Thursday — 24 hours later — Pike was still alive but in critical condition at a Tennessee
The attempted execution of Pike was not the first in Tennessee in 2026 that did not go to plan. The execution of Tony Carruthers, who was convicted of kidnapping and murdering three people in 1994, was postponed in May after staff were unable to find a vein to administer a lethal injection. He was given
The attempted execution went ahead after the US Supreme Court overturned a reprieve granted by a lower court on Wednesday morning. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative, granted the application to vacate the stay of the execution. No explanation was provided in the order. The top court’s three liberal justices – Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and
The execution of Tennessee inmate Christa Pike has been halted just over an hour before it was due to happen. Pike, 50, has been awaiting execution since she was convicted and sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of Colleen Slemmer. In their ruling on Wednesday, judges from the Sixth Circuit Appeals court said
The Riverbend Maximum Security Institution is seen Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. George Walker IV/AP hide caption toggle caption George Walker IV/AP This story describes the lethal injection procedure used in a death penalty. In May, a group of healthcare workers spent about an hour trying to establish complete IV access so they
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A federal appeals court halted the execution in Tennessee of Christa Pike about an hour before it was set to begin Wednesday. The judges said they want to review whether her allegations of sexual abuse and rape as a child were fully considered before she was sentenced to death. This would have
