By The Daily Caller (U.S.) | Created at 2026-10-01 15:16:42 | Updated at 2026-10-01 17:36:01
2 hours ago
Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee halted executions through the rest of the year after officials failed to successfully administer two separate doses of the lethal injection to Christa Gail Pike on Wednesday.
Pike survived two execution attempts and was even heard snoring before she was taken to the hospital to be treated. The 50-year-old was set to be executed for brutally torturing and murdering 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. (RELATED: ‘Uniquely Female Issues’: Woman Set To Be Executed For Murder Says She Feels A ‘Kinship’ With Lindsay Clancy)
At 18 years old, Pike, along with her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp and her friend Shadolla Peterson, lured Slemmer into an isolated wooded area where they restrained and mutilated her. Slemmer was repeatedly beaten, kicked, and even had a pentagram carved into her body.
Pike later took a piece of Slemmer’s skull to her school and showed it to her classmates.
Pike originally requested an all-female firing squad but was ordered to die by lethal injection. Notably, Dr. Mark Fowler, who was overseeing her execution, had previously been involved in the May 2026 failed execution of Tony Carruthers.
Lee said he ordered a “comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred” and said the remaining execution will no longer take place this year.
“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 said. (RELATED: Lindsay Clancy’s Lawyer Asks Trump For A Pardon)
Pike’s execution was initially set to take place Wednesday morning but was delayed after the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to issue a stay. The court argued that a delay was needed to consider whether Pike’s alleged sexual abuse from her childhood was fully considered during her sentencing.
The attorney general’s office appealed the case to the Supreme Court, which ruled 6-3 in favor of allowing the execution to proceed. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson all dissented.
