Governor Bill Lee orders review, halts state executions through end of 2026
Christa Pike, a Tennessee death row inmate, is in hospital after surviving two lethal injection attempts, according to her attorney. The attorney said Pike is alive and “receiving life-saving medical care.” The BBC’s Ione Wells is reporting from outside the hospital where Pike is said to be.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said a review into what happened has been ordered and that executions in the state have been halted for the rest of the year.
Pike had been scheduled to be executed on September 30, 2026, which would have made her the first woman executed in Tennessee since 1819. She would also have been the third person Tennessee brought to the death chamber this year.
In the days before the scheduled execution, Pike’s attorneys argued that the state’s attempt to kill her could result in a torturous and cruel death, given her distinctive medical and emotional problems. Courts declined to intervene on those grounds.
The failed execution is the second time in 2026 that Tennessee has been unable to complete a lethal injection. In May, the state halted the execution of Tony Carruthers after a doctor could not find a vein for a backup intravenous line. Lee subsequently granted Carruthers a one-year reprieve.
Lee’s pause on executions means no further executions will be carried out in the state this year.
Tennessee had previously announced Pike’s execution for September 30, 2026 — see MSI’s prior coverage of the scheduled execution.