Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike survived an execution attempt Wednesday night after being administered two doses of pentobarbital and transported to a hospital, raising an unusual legal question: Can a state try to execute someone a second time after a failed execution? The answer appears to be yes, though Pike's case could present complications depending on her medical condition and what investigators ultimately determine went wrong during the execution attempt. The central legal question is whether a second execution attempt would violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
Eric Berger, the Earl Dunlap Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Nebraska who has written extensively on lethal injection litigation, told Newsweek that the strongest precedent favors Tennessee's ability to seek another execution date. "Probably," Berger said when asked whether Tennessee can legally attempt to execute Pike again. "The Supreme Court in Louisiana ex rel.
Resweber found that the Eighth Amendment does not categorically bar a state from attempting a second execution after the first execution attempt fails." The failed execution has already prompted Governor Bill Lee to order a third-party review and pause Tennessee's remaining scheduled executions for 2026. It also follows months of scrutiny over the state's execution procedures after inmate Tony Carruthers' execution was halted in May when officials were unable to establish IV access. Pike was convicted of the January 1995 torture and murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow Job Corps student in Knoxville.
Prosecutors said Pike became jealous of Slemmer because she believed Slemmer was pursuing her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp. Pike, Shipp and another student, Shadolla Peterson, lured Slemmer to a secluded area near the University of Tennessee campus, where she was beaten, tortured and killed. According to trial testimony, Pike kept a piece of Slemmer's skull and later showed it to classmates.
A Knox County jury convicted Pike of first-degree murder and conspiracy and sentenced her to death in 1996. Pike was 18 at the time of the crime and 20 when she received the death sentence. She spent roughly three decades on Tennessee's death row and would have become the state's first female execution in more than 200 years had the execution proceeded as planned.
Pike remains at an off-site medical facility after surviving the execution attempt. According to statements by her attorneys, Pike was alive and receiving life-saving medical care after witnesses reported hearing her snoring and breathing following the administration of two rounds of pentobarbital. The Tennessee Department of Correction has declined to provide details about her condition.
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