NO MERCY

Tennessee Gov. Hints at Death Row Woman’s Fate After Botched Execution

Christa Pike survived two doses of a lethal injection drug last month.

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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Christa Pike’s sentence will likely stay the same, despite her failed execution last month. Pike, 50, was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of her classmate, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Last month, she became the first prisoner in U.S. history to survive a lethal injection. Prison staff administered two doses of pentobarbital with at least 10 needles, while Pike remained alive. She was hospitalized and declared brain dead days later. On October 6, she unexpectedly regained consciousness and began speaking. She is now reportedly walking independently and left the hospital, although her cognitive recovery remains uncertain. The New York Post reports that Pike’s lawyers called on Lee to commute her sentence after the failed execution, arguing that she has “endured punishment greater than any other person in the history of the American death penalty.” Lee, however, said Pike is “still incarcerated under the laws of the state of Tennessee” and that he suspects “her sentence will be the same as before unless determined otherwise by the courts.” Pike is currently being held at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center in Nashville.