Governor Bill Lee Halts All Tennessee Executions After Christa Pike Survives Botched Lethal Injection Attempt

Tennessee will execute no one else this year. Governor Bill Lee stopped the one execution still planned after Christa Pike survived a botched lethal injection on 30 September. Staff gave her two doses, but she kept breathing. Seven prisoners in the modern era survived earlier attempts, but none received the drug, a research group says.

It was the state's second failed execution in under five months, yet Lee did not pause executions after the first in May. The Tennessean newspaper found the state has spent nearly $1.2 million (about £900,000) on these drugs since 2023. The records do not disclose where it bought them.

Why Tennessee Did Not Stop After the First Failure

On 21 May, the state called off Tony Carruthers' execution after staff failed to establish backup IV access despite more than an hour of attempts. Lee granted Carruthers a one-year reprieve but ordered no review or pause. Asked why, Lee said the cause in Pike's case was unclear, while Carruthers' failure was plainly a vein problem, the Nashville Banner reported. In June, nine Republican state senators had asked him for an independent review, as the timeline below shows.

The doctor tasked with setting Carruthers' IV lines also oversaw Pike's attempt, the Death Penalty Information Centre says. In a deposition, he said he had no current hospital privileges, the centre reported. Pike's lawyers challenged the execution method at a hearing in Knox County in August, but the court upheld it. Their filing cited the Carruthers case as a warning. Tennessee still executed Anthony Darrell Hines on 13 August.

What Happened During Christa Pike's Execution

Pentobarbital, a strong sedative, is Tennessee's only lethal-injection drug. Staff began giving it after 7:26pm, and Pike said, 'My arm feels like it's about to bust,' according to a WKRN journalist. Witnesses heard her breathing and snoring throughout, even after the curtains closed at 8:05pm. Witnesses were escorted out at 8:53pm, and paramedics later took her to hospital. The Tennessee Department of Correction said it 'followed every step' of its approved process that night.

In a statement filed in court on 22 October, her lawyer Randy Spivey said the team seemed to go through about 10 needles over nearly 40 minutes to place IV lines. At 8:06pm, her spiritual adviser whispered to him, 'She's still alive,' he wrote. Her legal team had warned for months about her veins and the lack of emergency care. 'We take no pleasure in being right,' they said afterwards.

What Happens Next for Tennessee's Death Penalty

Ed Stanton, a former federal prosecutor, will lead the new review. He led a 2022 review that found the state had failed to follow its testing rules. Lawmakers have proposed changes to the system. Gary Wayne Sutton, the only other prisoner due to die in 2026, now has a reprieve until October 2027.

Pike, 50, received a death sentence for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer, 19. In 1947, the US Supreme Court allowed Louisiana to try again after its electric chair failed to kill Willie Francis. Her lawyers have asked Lee to commute her sentence, and Tennessee has set no new date.