Tennessee's attempt to execute Christa Pike fails; UN rights chief urges no further attempt
Oct. 1, 2026 — Christa Pike, the only woman on Tennessee's death row, survived the state's attempt to execute her on Sept. 30. The execution was halted nearly two hours after the lethal injection protocol began, after two rounds failed and federal public defenders filed an emergency appeal, the Tennessee Lookout reported. She was taken to an outside medical facility.
On Oct. 1, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk and nine independent UN rights experts called on Tennessee authorities not to pursue any further attempt to execute her.
Pike, now 50, was convicted in 1996 of the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer, committed when she was 18. Gov. Bill Lee denied clemency on Sept. 28, saying he would uphold the sentence, and the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a temporary stay on the evening of the execution. She would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
It was the state's second failed execution attempt this year. In May, the execution of Tony Carruthers was halted when medical staff could not find a vein; Lee said in July that the protocol had been carried out appropriately.
The wall: The Department of Correction's account of what went wrong, Pike's condition, and any decision by the state on a new date are not yet known.
Tier: Reported (based on UN News' account, Tennessee Lookout's reporting and the governor's statements as reported by NewsChannel 5 and WVLT)
Corrections and updates
- Edited Oct. 15, 2026: The note on what this story is based on was revised for clarity. The facts are unchanged.
Sources
- UN News
- Tennessee Lookout
- NewsChannel 5 (governor's statement)
- WVLT (Carruthers; governor's July remarks)
- Death Penalty Information Center
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