The ramifications continue to be felt after last week's failed execution of Christa Pike, who was sentenced to death for the 1995 beating, torture and murder of Colleen Slemmer.
On Saturday, Oct. 3, Gov. Bill Lee announced the resignation of the commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction, the agency responsible for carrying out court-ordered executions.
Leaders propose new approaches
The debate has intensified, with U.S. Sen. and Republican gubernatorial nominee Marsha Blackburn calling for the return of the electric chair and House Speaker Cameron Sexton expressing his intention to work with the state Senate to add new execution alternatives, which could include changing Tennessee's lethal injection protocol to include potassium chloride. U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett
also said in an appearance on NewsNation that he believes a firing squad is the best way to carry out executions.
"Let's get to something that works and let's do it," Burchett said on NewsNation's "Katie Pavlich Tonight." "Get away from the drugs. That's been problematic from the start."
The uproar over Pike's failed execution is understandable. Lee has suspended executions for the remainder of 2026. He took similar action four years ago when he halted the execution of death row inmate Oscar Franklin Smith because of a "technical oversight" involving lethal injection drugs. Lee made that decision less than 30 minutes before Smith's execution was scheduled to take place.
Tennessee's execution troubles run deep
An independent review later confirmed findings from a May 2022 Tennessean investigation that identified problems throughout the state's lethal injection process, including drug testing, oversight, recordkeeping and preparation.
Controversy over Tennessee's lethal injection protocol dates back even further. In 2007, the state instituted a 90-day moratorium on executions to review its lethal injection procedures. In 2014, then-Gov. Bill Haslam signed legislation allowing the electric chair to be used when lethal injection drugs are unavailable.
A year later, four executions were put on hold while courts considered challenges to the state's three-drug lethal injection protocol. The Tennessee Supreme Court ultimately upheld that protocol despite testimony from attorneys and medical experts who argued one of the drugs could leave inmates paralyzed but conscious, causing suffering akin to suffocation or drowning.
The state later switched to a single-drug protocol using pentobarbital.
But as we've seen with the failed executions of Pike and Tony Carruthers in May, Tennessee's administration of the death penalty has a troubling history.
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As of this writing, Pike remains hospitalized, intubated, unconscious and on a ventilator. Her attorneys have said both of her arms are swollen, burned and blistered.
Once again, Tennessee finds itself at a crossroads over how it carries out the death penalty.
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Tacuma R. Roeback is The Tennessean’s community engagement and opinion editor. Reach him at troeback@gannett.com or follow him onX,Bluesky orLinkedIn.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: What should Tennessee do after two failed executions? Tell us | Opinion
