'They f***ed up': Colleen Slemmer's mother says she was denied justice after Tennessee's botched execution

From the Newshound archive · first published 1 October 2026 · last updated 3 October 2026.

Christa Pike, 50, survived two administrations of the lethal drug pentobarbital on Wednesday and was transferred to a Nashville hospital, where she remains critically ill — unconscious, ventilated, and breathing through a tube — according to a court filing her lawyers submitted on Friday. The IV lines were placed incorrectly, her lawyers say, causing the drug to saturate surrounding tissue rather than reach her bloodstream, a complication they had flagged to courts months before the execution. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has ordered an independent review and suspended future executions.

Pike's lawyers counted at least seven needles used during the hour-long attempt, including one that was removed bent at a 90-degree angle.

At one point Pike cried out 'my arm feels like it's about to burst open' and asked 'does this happen like that?' as witnesses heard her crying and whimpering.

Pike was convicted of the 1995 torture killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer and stood to be the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.