Lawyers urge Gov. Bill Lee to commute Christa Pike’s death sentence

Christa Pike’s lawyers are asking Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to commute her death sentence to life in prison after she survived two doses of lethal injection drugs in what a death penalty expert described as an unprecedented event.

Pike, who was sentenced to death for the murder of a classmate in 1995, was rushed to the hospital Wednesday evening after surviving her scheduled execution. Her lawyers said Thursday that she remains in critical condition and is receiving “life-saving medical treatment.”

“We have no information on his prognosis or an update on his health at this time,” attorney Randy Spivey said at a news conference. “But we know she’s alive right now.”

The botched execution prompted Lee to halt further efforts to carry out Pike’s execution and other executions planned this year by the state. He also ordered a third-party review of Pike’s execution, which he called “deeply troubling.”

CHRISTA PIKE’S LAWYERS SAY SHE IS IN CRITICAL CONDITION AFTER BOTTLED DEADLY INJECTIONS

Christa Gail Pike is seen during her trial for the murder of Colleen A. Slemmer. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)

Pike’s lawyers are now asking that his death sentence be commuted.

Her lawyers filed an emergency motion with the Tennessee Supreme Court to immediately halt and stay the execution, noting that she was suffering “unnecessary agony” and arguing that subjecting her to another execution attempt violated her right to be put to death without cruel and unusual punishment.

Death Penalty Information Center Executive Director Robin Maher, who called the failed execution “totally unprecedented,” also urged the governor to commute Pike’s sentence.

“Given Christa Pike’s experience last night, after a childhood and early adulthood filled with gender-based violence and abuse, it would be irresponsible for state officials to subject her to another execution attempt. I truly hope that in light of what she experienced, the governor decides to commute her sentence to life in prison and not subject her to another torture experience in the execution chamber.” Maher told Fox News Digital.

Before the planned execution, approximately 25,000 people had signed a petition to Lee asking him to commute Pike’s death sentence to life in prison.

An appeals court had stayed his execution early Wednesday, but the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the stay hours later to clear the way for his death.

Pike, 50, would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. She would have been the 30th person executed in the United States this year, largely due to a record increase in the number of inmates put to death in Florida since 2025.

Since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, only 18 women have been executed in the United States, representing about 1 percent of all executions in the country.

It was the second time this year that Tennessee’s execution failed. In May, Tony Carruthers, convicted of the kidnapping and murder of three people in 1994, was not executed because authorities could not find a suitable vein for an intravenous infusion and so the drugs were not administered. Several states have already suspended executions after officials were unable to find a suitable vein for an IV line.

Christa Pike’s lawyers are asking Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute her death sentence to life in prison after she survived an execution attempt. (Tennessee Department of Corrections via AP)

In 2024, Tennessee moved from a three-drug series to a single drug, pentobarbital, for lethal injections. About two years earlier, the state abruptly halted the execution of Oscar Smith, convicted of first-degree murder, and admitted that it had failed to ensure that his lethal injection drugs were properly tested. He was finally executed by lethal injection last year.

Several other people have survived medical problems related to being unable to access a vein to administer lethal injection drugs, but no one had remained alive after receiving the drugs until Pike on Wednesday.

“This is unfortunately not the first time that Tennessee authorities have botched an execution. There really is a pretty shameful history of executions gone wrong in Tennessee, although Christa Pikes really stands out. No one has ever been given lethal doses of execution drugs and survived until last night. This is a completely unprecedented event, even in the context of Tennessee’s other botched executions,” Maher said.

The Death Penalty Information Center lists 65 botched executions in the United States in the modern era.

In the execution chamber, Pike said she was at peace and “ready to be free.”

“It’s a happy day,” she said.

But she remained awake and even complained of a feeling in her arm. Witnesses reported that Pike complained of arm pain and remained conscious after the first dose.

An hour after authorities first raised the curtains, witnesses said a second dose of pentobarbital was administered. Pike could still be heard snoring behind a closed curtain until the microphone was cut off nearly 30 minutes later.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT PENTOBARBITAL AFTER A DEATH TERM INMATE SURVIVES 2 DEADLY INJECTION DOSES

The botched execution prompted Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to suspend the execution of Christa Pike as well as other executions planned this year in the state. (Marc Zaleski/AP)

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Pike, who was 18 at the time of the crime, and her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, then 17, were convicted of the fatal shooting of a classmate, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Shipp was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole because he was a minor and was not eligible for the death penalty.

The third defendant, Shadolla Peterson, then 18, who acted as a lookout while her two friends carried out the attack, testified on behalf of the state and avoided the death penalty.

Pike did not dispute that she helped kill Slemmer, but her supporters argued that her mental illness and allegations of severe sexual abuse when she was young should be taken into account. After the murder, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I was an 18-year-old girl with a mental illness. It took me many years to realize the severity of what I had done,” she previously said. “It makes me sick now to think that I have the capacity to commit such a crime.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.