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Botched Execution: Christa Pike on Ventilator After Failed Tennessee Lethal Injection
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Firstpost•03-10-2026, 08:47
Botched Execution: Christa Pike on Ventilator After Failed Tennessee Lethal Injection
- •Christa Pike remains on a ventilator after a botched execution attempt in Tennessee, with hospital staff working to clear pentobarbital from her system.
- •Attorneys claim intravenous lines were incorrectly placed, causing the pentobarbital to enter Pike's body instead of her bloodstream.
- •The execution team allegedly proceeded with a backup dose despite issues, leaving Pike "critically ill."
- •Pike's lawyers are asking a state court to preserve all evidence from the failed execution to ensure accountability and protect her rights.
- •The incident has led to calls for a moratorium on the death penalty in the US; Pike would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in over 200 years.
Key Questions Answered
Christa Pike's attorneys stated that problems with intravenous lines caused pentobarbital to flow into her body instead of her bloodstream rather than being correctly placed.
Christa Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, whom she and her boyfriend killed at a job training camp in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The last time Tennessee executed a woman was in 1820, making the attempt on Christa Pike the first scheduled execution of a woman in the state in more than 200 years.
