Summary
Christa Pike said she has remained in physical and emotional pain since surviving a lethal injection attempt in Tennessee on Sept. 30, 2026. In her first public statement since the procedure, she said she is trying to heal while seeking meaning in what happened.
Key Facts
- Pike, 50, received two doses of a lethal injection drug, survived, and was taken to a hospital.
- Pike dictated her statement to her lawyers, who released it one month after the failed execution.
- A witness reported hearing Pike snoring about an hour after the procedure began.
- Pike was convicted in 1995 of killing 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, her classmate, in a crime committed with help from her boyfriend and a friend.
- The Death Penalty Information Center says Pike is the only person known to have survived a U.S. execution attempt after the drug was administered.
- Tennessee's execution team also failed to establish an IV line for Tony Carruthers this year; the governor granted him a one-year reprieve.
- A CBS News review found that Tennessee's lethal injection protocols grew more vague over time.
- A Reuters/Ipsos poll reported that one-third of Americans supported a second attempt to execute Pike.
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