Christa Pike is the only woman on Tennessee’s death row and was scheduled to be executed Wednesday for the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.
Pike, 50, was set to die by lethal injection at 10 a.m. Sept. 30 at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.
Instead, a series of last-minute legal battles delayed the execution for hours.
Christa Pike’s Execution Was Delayed for Hours
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit issued a stay Wednesday morning, blocking Pike’s execution “until further order of this court.”
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Tennessee’s attorney general’s office then asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the stay and allow the execution to proceed.
The Supreme Court cleared the way shortly before 6 p.m., allowing Tennessee officials to begin the lethal injection process.
Christa Pike Remains Alive After Execution Attempt
Pike’s attorneys said prison officials administered two doses of lethal pentobarbital, but the drugs did not stop her heart.
“Ms. Pike has not lost consciousness and still has a heartbeat and is audibly snoring,” one of her attorneys wrote in an emergency motion.
A federal judge later ruled the motion moot after the state said medical personnel had begun providing care.
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Pike’s attorneys subsequently said she was being treated at a nearby hospital but that they had not been informed of her condition.
As of the latest update, no government official had publicly confirmed whether Tennessee would make another attempt to carry out the execution.
What Did Christa Pike Say Before the Execution?
According to Associated Press reporter Kim Chandler, an official media witness, Pike said she was going to leave the world in the same way she had spent most of her life: “in love.”
Chandler said Pike expressed love for the people who were outside criticizing her and then said, “I’m at peace. I’m ready to be free.”
Pike ended her statement by calling it “a happy day.”
Why Was Christa Pike Sentenced to Death?
Pike and her boyfriend were convicted in the 1995 killing of Slemmer, who was their classmate at a job training facility in Knoxville.
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Slemmer was stabbed and beaten to death, and a pentagram was carved into her body. Other details of the case fueled fears surrounding the Satanic panic that spread across parts of the U.S. during the 1980s and 1990s.
Pike was sentenced to death, while her boyfriend received a life sentence.
Tennessee Pauses Executions After Christa Pike Survives
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is pausing all executions scheduled for the rest of the year after Christa Pike survived two doses of lethal pentobarbital during her execution attempt.
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 called for a “comprehensive, third-party review” of Pike’s execution, adding, “Therefore, the remaining scheduled execution will not be carried out this year.”
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