The Tennessee Department of Corrections botched its planned execution of Christa Pike late on Sept. 30, making it the second execution the state has failed to complete this year.
Pike was convicted of a 1995 killing of Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville, who was 19 when she died. Earlier this year, TDOC failed to find a suitable secondary vein to execute Memphian Tony Carruthers
, who was convicted of a 1994 triple kidnapping and murder.Carruthers then buried the three people beneath another grave.
What happened to Tony Carruthers?
Carruthers' execution was set to be the first one of the year. He was slated to be executed on May 21.
Executioners attempted to insert an IV line into Carruthers' veins for about an hour and 20 minutes. After struggling with the first vein, they eventually
were able to set one line. TDOC policy requires a primary and secondary backup vein to be used in its executions.
In trying to set the second IV line, they attempted to set it in his arms, shoulders, foot, jugular and chest, said Maria DeLiberato, senior counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union's Capital Punishment Project.
A Commercial Appeal reporter was in the witness chamber for the execution. Though the blinds were not open and the microphone was not turned on, Carruthers could be heard groaning shortly before the execution was called off.
That groaning, according to DeLiberato, was when Dr. Mark Walton Fowler attempted to set a central line in his chest. To set the line, Carruthers was injected with lidocaine. According to DeLiberato and a complaint filed by Carruthers' sister with the Tennessee Department of Health against Fowler, the doctor asked if Carruthers could feel anything and cut into his chest despite Carruthers saying he could feel it.
Fowler, according to the complaint, also asked Carruthers if he was allergic to lidocaine, and nobody knew the answer to that question. Despite not receiving an answer, Fowler allegedly used the lidocaine anyway.
In a past deposition, Fowler said he had not set a central line in over a decade and did not have hospital privileges to do so. During the attempted execution, Carruthers' attorney could be heard asking Fowler if he was qualified to set the line. He responded that he was.
“So I went back in, and I objected to him doing a central line,” DeLiberato told media after the execution. “The doctor, himself, kind of snapped back at me and said, ‘Yes, I am qualified.’ The warden told him to just do his job.”
What happened after Tony Carruthers' botched execution?
DeLiberato was in the execution chamber as the lines were being set. After the attempted execution, she described the multiple attempts to set a secondary line as "torture."
Gov. Bill Lee granted Carruthers a year-long reprieve after the botched execution.
Carruthers was taken back to his cell after the execution and later taken to receive medical treatment. In the medical complaint filed by his sister, she alleged Carruthers has since suffered a stroke and is now paralyzed on the right side of his body.
What happened after Christa Pike's botched execution?
Pike, after her botched execution, was taken to the hospital, where it was believed she remained, early on Oct. 1. Her attorneys did not know her status early on Oct. 1. Pike survived two lethal doses of pentobarbital for nearly 40 minutes, according to media witnesses allowed to view the execution, before the execution was called off.
Throughout the process, witnesses said Pike spoke multiple full sentences.
"My arm feels like it's about to bust. One spot is really throbbing," Tori Gessner, a journalist, recalled Pike saying.
When witnesses were escorted out, after the blinds were closed and the microphone was turned off, they said Pike could still be heard breathing.
Lee has ordered a third-party review of the botched execution and paused Gary Wayne Sutton's scheduled execution. Sutton was slated to be executed on Dec. 3.
TDOC, in a statement, said it followed every step of its protocol correctly and said the "lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective."
Pike's attorneys said the failure to carry out her execution validated concerns they previously raised in court about "difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong" and the protocol's secrecy.
In a statement, Lee said carrying out executions 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."
Lucas Finton covers crime, policing, jails, the courts and criminal justice policy for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached by phone or email: (901)208-3922 and Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com, and followed on X @LucasFinton.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Christa Pike was second botched 2026 TN execution. Tony Carruthers was first
