Toronto Star
· collected 2026-10-02 · by Kim Chandler And Jamie Stengle The Associated Press
Story summary
Christa Pike, 50, is set to be executed by lethal injection on Wednesday in Tennessee, marking the first time a woman will be put to death in the state in over 200 years. Pike was convicted of murdering Colleen Slemmer, her 19-year-old classmate at Knoxville Job Corps, in January 1995 when she herself was only 18. Prosecutors claimed Pike feared Slemmer as a romantic rival and tortured and killed her alongside her boyfriend.
Pike’s attorneys argue that the death penalty is inappropriate given Pike's troubled childhood of sexual abuse and neglect, which they claim would influence a modern jury to not sentence her to death. However, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has denied Pike’s request for clemency, stating he will uphold the state's sentence.
Slemmer's mother supports the execution after waiting decades for justice. The case garnered significant public attention due to its brutality and because of satanic symbols carved into Slemmer's body. As of now, only 18 women have been executed in the U.S. since the 1970s compared to 1,663 men. Pike’s legal team is still seeking a last-minute reprieve from the Supreme Court due to her PTSD and concerns over psychological trauma during execution.
Written for “Tennessee Woman Execution” on 2026-10-04,
grounded in this article and the 133 other(s) covering the same event.
Christa Pike was placed on a ventilator and remained unconscious in a hospital in the hours after her failed execution in Tennessee, her attorneys said in a court filing Friday.
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attorneys → place → filing
Hospital staff, her lawyers said, were working to save Pike’s life and as of late Thursday were trying to clear the two doses of the drug that the state uses to execute prisoners.
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state → say → prisoners
The stunning failure in Tennessee’s execution chamber on Wednesday has left both sides of the death penalty debate demanding answers.
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failure → leave → answers
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has ordered an independent review.
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Lee → order → review
The court filing offered the first detailed account of Pike’s condition after an ambulance carried her away from Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on Wednesday night.
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ambulance → offer → night
Her attorneys said a day earlier that she was in critical condition.
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she → say → condition
Christa Pike’s attorneys point to problems with the IV
Pike’s attorneys said they believed problems with the IV lines caused the pentobarbital to flow into her body instead of her bloodstream.
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pentobarbital → point → body
“Apparently at no point did any member of the execution team realize that the IV lines were not correctly placed or that the veins had blown and that the pentobarbital was, in whole or in part, entering Ms. Pike’s body,” they wrote in the court filing.
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they → realize → filing
Instead of “remedying this failure,” they prepared and administered a second dose of pentobarbital, her lawyers said.
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lawyers → remedy → pentobarbital
State officials have not offered any explanations about what went wrong.
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what → offer → explanations
Tennessee leaders want a review of execution methods
Lee demanded a review of the execution procedures and indefinitely postponed Pike’s execution and another that had been scheduled for this year.
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that → want → year
Republican Tennessee lawmakers said the state should review whether to stop single-drug lethal injections and consider other options to carry out death sentences.
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state → say → sentences
The execution team worked for an hour to administer the lethal drugs, said Pike’s defense lawyer Randy Spivey, who counted at least seven needles in her left arm.
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who → work → arm
Neither the initial nor the backup dose of pentobarbital worked.
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initial → work → pentobarbital
Pike was still snoring when the execution chamber’s microphone was cut off more than an hour into the attempt.
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microphone → snore → attempt
Pike’s attorneys asked a state court to order the Tennessee Department of Correction to preserve all evidence from the failed execution.
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attorneys → ask → execution
“Preserving this evidence is essential to understanding what happened, ensuring accountability and protecting Christa’s legal rights,” two of her attorneys said in a statement.
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two → preserve → statement
She was 18 when she and her boyfriend tortured and killed a classmate, Colleen Slemmer, in a jealous rage.
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she → torture → rage
She later became one of the youngest women to be sent to death row.
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She → become → row
Following the killing, Pike was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, her attorneys said.
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attorneys → follow → disorder
“It took me numerous years to even realize the gravity of what I’d done.
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I → take → what
Even more to accept how many lives I affected.
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I → accept → lives
I took the life of someone’s child, sister, friend.
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I → take → friend
It sickens me now to think I had the ability to commit such a crime,” Pike said in an earlier clemency petition.
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Pike → sicken → petition
The mother of the 19-year-old woman Pike killed expressed frustration over the failed execution.
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Pike → kill → execution
“I didn’t get justice for my daughter,” May Martinez said Thursday.
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Martinez → get → daughter
Problems found with executions four years ago
Four years ago, Tennessee’s governor ordered another independent review into capital punishment after abruptly stopping the April 2022 execution of Oscar Smith.
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governor → find → Smith
Lee then paused all executions after acknowledging the state had failed to ensure its lethal injection drugs were properly tested.
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drugs → pause → executions
Months later, a report found the state hadn’t complied with its own lethal injection process since its revision in 2018, resulting in executions being conducted without proper testing of the drugs.
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executions → find → drugs
At the time, the state used a three-drug execution protocol of midazolam, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride.
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state → use → midazolam
The state later switched to using just pentobarbital.
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state → switch → pentobarbital
Pentobarbital has been used to carry out death sentences in multiple states and by the federal government.
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Pentobarbital → use → government
The review, led by former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton, also found that the state’s unidentified executioner had no formal healthcare training and learned the role mainly through on-the-job experience.
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executioner → lead → experience
After the release of the report, the Tennessee Department of Correction fired its longtime top attorney and another employee.
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Department → fire → attorney
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This story has been updated to correct Martinez’s first name to May, not Maya.
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story → update → May
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Associated Press writer John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.
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Seewer → contribute → Toledo
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