Tennessee halts all 2026 executions after Christa Pike survives lethal injection

Gov. Bill Lee ordered a “comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred” after Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital, halting 2026 executions: “the remaining scheduled execution will not be carried out this year” (The Tennessean).

“Carrying out a lawfully imposed sentence is among the State’s most serious responsibilities, and the people of Tennessee expect it to be done in a manner that is not only legal and constitutional, but is effective,” Lee said on Sept 30.

The remaining execution was Gary Wayne Sutton’s, Dec 3 — sentenced to death for the 1992 Blount County murders of Tommy Griffin and sister Connie Branam, with uncle James Dellinger, who died on death row in 2023.

Pike, 50, was alive and snoring after the drugs at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution; taken to an off-site medical facility, her attorneys did not know her condition (Commercial Appeal). Witnesses heard her say “My arm feels like it’s about to bust. One spot is really throbbing,” before being escorted out at 8:53 p.m., still breathing.

Death Penalty Information Center’s Robin Maher called it “singular and unparalleled” — the first to survive after the drugs were administered (New York Post). Her emergency motion alleging “unnecessary agony” was approved by District Judge Clifton L. Corker; corrections said the protocol “does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out.” Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1995 torture and murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer — the state’s second botched execution this year, after Tony Carruthers.

Read next: all our Christa Pike coverage