Tennessee Execution
Tennessee Assistant Attorney General Will Ayers speaks during a court hearing Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. as attorneys for Christa Pike request the Tennessee Department of Corrections to preserve all evidence related to her failed execution.
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Christa Pike is “angry and confused” after surviving an attempt to execute her in Tennessee. One of Pike’s attorneys, Randy Spivey, said Wednesday that she aware of what happened. Executioners tried twice to administer lethal doses of pentobarbital to Pike on Sept. 30. Witnesses were able to hear her breathing heavily before she was removed from the death chamber. On Wednesday, a judge said she would issue an order to the state to preserve anything that was in the execution chamber and all communication records. Pike was sentenced to death for the beating and stabbing death of Colleen Slemmer in 1995.
