Tennessee’s Botched Execution Exposes a Broken Death-Penalty System

On Wednesday, the state of Tennessee botched the execution of convicted first-degree murderer Christa Pike. After several attempts to administer an injection of lethal pentobarbital failed, Pike was taken to a hospital, where she remains unconscious and on a ventilator.

The attempted execution was delayed for more than eight hours “as the U.S. Supreme Court considered, and ultimately overturned, a federal appeals court ruling to halt her lethal injection.”

Pike would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in over 200 years. She was convicted in 1996 for the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer the previous year “in a jealous rage.”

Both Pike and Slemmer were Job Corps participants. Pike’s reason for “beating, torturing, and killing” Slemmer in a remote area of the University of Tennessee Agricultural campus was that she “just felt mean that day.” Pike and her boyfriend “slashed Slemmer with a box cutter and beat her with a large chunk of asphalt.” The killers also carved “a satanic symbol” into her body.

May Martinez, the victim’s mother, traveled from her Florida home to attend the planned execution in Nashville. Ms. Martinez was angry that the execution was botched and broke down in tears. According to Ms. Martinez, Pike was “on the table, talking, still laughing.” After the failed execution, witnesses reported hearing Pike “breathing and snoring very loudly.”

None of this was fair to Colleen Slemmer’s family. Ms. Martinez rightly believes that she is owed “a big apology” from the state of Tennessee. Sadly, no one has apologized to her for this embarrassing failure. She was only told that authorities did not know what they were “doing with her” next, referring to Pike.

Nothing will happen anytime soon because Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee halted executions for the remainder of the year and ordered a “third-party review.” In the aftermath of the failed execution, Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada announced his resignation. He said he was doing so “in the best interest of Tennesseans as the independent review moves forward.”

Before taking his position in Tennessee, Strada served as deputy director of the Arizona Department of Correction. He oversaw three “visibly problematic” executions in Arizona, prompting Gov. Katie Hobbs to pause executions in the state.

Earlier this year, Tennessee had to halt the execution of Tony Carruthers, “who was convicted of kidnapping and murdering three people in 1994.” Staff members were unable to “establish an intravenous line” after one hour of trying. After that debacle, Gov. Lee ordered a one-year reprieve for Carruthers before another execution attempt.

This is a travesty for the families of Carruthers’ three victims, who are still waiting for justice after 32 years. It is also cruel and unusual punishment for Ms. Martinez and her family. She said, “Here we are, 31 years, and you’re laughing in my face again…that’s what I feel like they did.” She told a Jacksonville, Florida, television station that her motivation was simple: “All I wanted was justice.”

After this failure, Colleen Slemmer and her family still have no justice. It is outrageous that Pike and so many other convicted murderers remain on death row in Tennessee and other states for years. As British Prime Minister William Gladstone said in 1868, “Justice delayed is justice denied.”

For too many victims and their families, these insufferable delays are a total denial of justice. In our criminal justice system, the priority is too often placed on convicted murderers rather than innocent victims.

Lethal injection was adopted in part to limit the pain of convicted murderers. Since it is difficult to secure the proper drugs and there are obvious problems in the administration of lethal injection, it is time to revert to methods that are much more reliable: the electric chair, lethal gas, and the firing squad.

It is also time to stop allowing convicted murderers to determine who is on their execution team. In Pike’s case, she demanded all-female executioners, and, for some reason, Tennessee complied with her demand. When did state officials start taking orders from murderers?

It is possible that the all-female team was not properly trained; the investigation should include that possibility. However, under no circumstances should any state adjust its procedures in any way to please a convicted murderer.

Podcaster Matt Walsh believes the execution was “botched on purpose” to give a rallying cry to “death penalty activists.” The publicity is also creating misplaced sympathy for the murderer, Christa Pike. Where is the sympathy for the victim and her family?

As for Pike’s future, U.S. Congressman Tim Burchett (R-TN) offered some constructive ideas for state officials. He said, “We can use the electric chair,” or “bring her to a firing squad…the firing squad and hanging are 100%…let’s just let’s get to something that works and let’s do it.”

In the United States today, 27 states have the death penalty, but four of those states have gubernatorial holds. The average wait time for a person on death row before execution rose to 18.9 years in 2020. This system is being exploited by special interests and attorneys, while victims’ families are forced to endure excruciating waits.

Of the 47 executions in 2025, 39 were done by lethal injection. Along with problems obtaining and administering the lethal drugs, the costs can be prohibitive, reaching approximately $1.5 million in some states.

A much less expensive and more effective method of execution is the firing squad. In 2025, it was used in South Carolina to execute three individuals on death row. Another five were executed by lethal gas in Alabama and Louisiana.

After the embarrassment of Christa Pike’s failed execution, lethal injection should be discontinued in favor of other methods. There also must be an end to the practice of keeping prisoners on death row for so many years. America owes victims’ families a justice system that is both swift and certain.