Colleen Slemmer's Mum Says 'They're Going To Do What They're Going To Do' After Christa Pike's Failed Execution

May Martinez, whose 19-year-old daughter Colleen Slemmer was murdered in 1995, says she doubts Tennessee will try again to execute death row inmate Christa Pike after last week's failed lethal injection. Pike, 50, is now conscious and speaking in hospital, according to her lawyers, after surviving the 30 September execution attempt in Nashville.

Asked what she wanted authorities to do next, Martinez told WBIR: 'It doesn't matter what I think. They're going to do what they're going to do.' She also said she had suspected Pike would survive. Pike remains under critical medical care, her legal team said.

Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of Slemmer, who was 19. Pike and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, beat, tortured and killed Slemmer after meeting her at a job-training programme.

Pike was 18 at the time, while Shipp was 17 and received a life sentence rather than the death penalty because of his age.

Martinez's latest comments come as uncertainty grows over whether Tennessee could attempt to carry out Pike's death sentence again. State authorities have not announced whether another execution will be pursued.

Christa Pike Is Conscious and Speaking After Failed Execution

Pike's lawyers, Randy Spivey and Kelly Gleason, announced on Tuesday that she had regained consciousness six days after the failed execution. 'Against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care,' they said.

The lawyers said Pike remained handcuffed and shackled to her hospital bed despite what they described as severe damage to her arms. They called her recovery 'medically unprecedented' and said her prognosis remained unclear.

Dr Joel Zivot, an anaesthesiologist advising Pike's defence team, said her ability to come off a ventilator and speak 'bodes well for a good recovery'. He cautioned, however, that she remained in intensive care and was not free from further serious medical risks. Questions also remain over how the lethal injection was administered.

Pike's legal team had previously raised concerns about her medical history, including small veins, and warned that establishing intravenous access could prove difficult. Spivey, who witnessed the execution attempt, said officials repeatedly struggled to find a vein and that he counted at least seven needles used in Pike's left arm.

Witnesses described hearing Pike apparently snoring or choking after the drugs were administered. Her body reportedly lifted into a V-shape on the gurney at one point.

Authorities have not publicly established how much pentobarbital entered Pike's bloodstream or why the execution failed.

Christa Pike Case Raises New Constitutional Questions

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has suspended executions in the state for the remainder of 2026 and ordered an independent review of the failed procedure. Frank Strada, the Tennessee Department of Correction commissioner, has also announced plans to step down at the end of October.

The failed execution has raised questions about whether another lethal injection could face a constitutional challenge.

Vanderbilt Law School professor Christopher Slobogin told WSMV4 that Pike's lawyers could have a 'pretty good argument' that using lethal injection against her again would violate the Eighth Amendment.

'Given what we know now, how she responds to lethal injection, and given what happened to her, Christa Pike's lawyers have a pretty good argument that it would be a violation of the Eighth Amendment to execute her using [lethal injection],' he said.

Pike's lawyers are also urging Lee to commute her death sentence to life imprisonment without parole.

Victim's Family Caught in Fresh Uncertainty

The latest uncertainty comes more than three decades after Slemmer was killed and Pike was sentenced to death. Steven Hale, a Nashville Banner journalist who witnessed the execution attempt, said the case had also raised difficult questions for Slemmer's family after years of being told that carrying out Pike's sentence would deliver justice.

Pike remains in hospital while her lawyers prepare to appear in court in Nashville. Her legal team is also due to hold a news conference outside the court as it presses for further action following the failed execution.

The Tennessee Department of Correction has declined to confirm details of Pike's medical condition, saying federal privacy laws prevent it from releasing that information. The medical updates have instead come from Pike's lawyers and Zivot.

For Martinez, the immediate question is now in the hands of state officials rather than the victim's family. Her response to what Tennessee should do next was brief: 'They're going to do what they're going to do.'

Authorities have not said whether they will seek another execution attempt. Pike's recovery, the independent review and any further legal challenges are likely to shape what Tennessee does next.