Overview
- During an attempted execution at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution on Wednesday, Sept. 30, authorities gave two doses of pentobarbital but Christa Pike continued to breathe and was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
- Pike’s lawyers and eyewitnesses say staff spent about an hour trying to find veins, made at least seven needle attempts, pulled out a bent needle and that injection sites later showed blisters and burns.
- Tennessee Governor Bill Lee ordered all remaining 2026 executions halted and directed an independent, comprehensive investigation into the procedures used in Pike’s attempted execution.
- Pike’s defense is preparing emergency Eighth Amendment filings arguing the attempt was cruel and unusual, and courts will now weigh whether the state can legally try to execute her again after this failed attempt.
- The incident highlights wider problems with lethal injections in the U.S.: secretive compounding pharmacies supply pentobarbital, licensed doctors generally do not participate, the Death Penalty Information Center called the case unprecedented, and Tennessee had a separate aborted execution in May.