Christa Pike Speaks on Botched Execution: 'There Is Pain in My Mind and in My Soul'

Oct 31, 2026 | “If this doesn’t meet the test of cruel and unusual punishment, then what does?”

Christa Pike’s botched execution violates the US Constitution, says Saul Lehrfreund, co-founder of The Death Penalty Project. He adds that there “has to be a limit to the death penalty”.


Is there no end to Americans’ cruelty and depravity? And so devoted to Christ and Christianity, too! When it comes to executions, Americans are no less cruel and depraved than the Saudis are! — © Mark Alexander

Christa Pike Discharged From Hospital After Surviving Execution Attempt

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Ms. Pike, 50 and convicted of the 1995 murder of a classmate, survived two doses of the drug pentobarbital late last month.

Screenshot taken from this NYT article. | Christa Pike survived an execution attempt and has now been discharged from the hospital. Credit: J. Miles Cary/USA TODAY, via Reuters
Christa Pike has been discharged from a Nashville hospital, her lawyers said on Saturday, 10 days after she survived an attempt at lethal injection.

She is back at Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center in Nashville, the primary prison for women in Tennessee, her lawyers said. As of Thursday, Ms. Pike had been walking with assistance, but still struggling with concentration and memory.

“She is grateful to the first responders and her medical team for their care in these extraordinary circumstances,” her lawyers said in a statement. “She is continuing to receive medical care at the prison, and we will continue to track her recovery.”

Ms. Pike has spent three decades in the prison, largely in isolation, for the 1995 torture and murder of Colleen Slemmer, 19, a classmate in Knoxville. On Sept. 30, she survived two doses of the drug pentobarbital, the second time this year Tennessee has failed to carry out an execution. » | Emily Cochrane | Reporting from Nashville. | Saturday, October 10, 2026