deaths

[spaminator]

Christa Pike latest death penalty mistake
Author of the article:Brad Hunter
Published Oct 02, 2026 • Last updated 22 hours ago • 3 minute read
This handout picture dated January 12, 2023 provided by the Tennessee Department of Correction shows convicted US murderer Christa Pike. The US state of Tennessee is set on September 30, 2026, to execute a woman for the first time in 200 years, three decades after she murdered a classmate. Christa Pike, now 50, was 18 when she and her boyfriend beat and killed Colleen Slemmer, 19, at a job training camp for young people.
This handout picture dated Jan. 12, 2023, provided by the Tennessee Department of Correction, shows death row inmate Christa Pike. The state of Tennessee attempted to execute Pike on Sept. 30, 2026 — which would have marked the first execution of a woman in the state in more than 200 years — but the lethal injection ultimately failed after she survived two doses of the drug. Photo by HANDOUT /Tennessee Department of Correcti

Two doses of a deadly toxic cocktail could not kill convicted murderer Christa Pike.


Her botched execution on Wednesday night in Nashville is just the latest mistake-laden death penalty coda.

The 50-year-old — on death row since she was 18 for the brutal murder of a love rival — is now in critical condition in a Music City hospital. Officials have been tight-lipped about her condition, but some reports claim Pike was brain-damaged by the process.

Sadly, Pike’s execution isn’t the first, nor will it be the last to go off the rails. From exploding heads to decapitations, from hanging to lethal injection, botched executions are nothing new.

Turpin, left, and Detroit gangster Arthur Lucas were the last two men to hang in Canada. TORONTO TELEGRAM
Turpin, left, and Detroit gangster Arthur Lucas were the last two men to hang in Canada. (TORONTO TELEGRAM)
ARTHUR LUCAS
411: Detroit hitman was one of the last two people hanged in Canada. He found himself on the gallows at Toronto’s Don Jail for murdering an informant and his prostitute girlfriend. On Dec. 13, 1963, Lucas, 54, was executed, but his head was “torn right off” and was hanging by the sinews of his neck. The hangman miscalculated his weight.


COP KILLER: Jesse Tafero died in agony. (FDC)
COP KILLER: Jesse Tafero died in agony. (FDC)
JESSE TAFERO
411: Tafero was slated to ride the lightning for the cold-blooded 1976 double murder of Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Phillip A. Black and his pal, OPP Corp. Donald Irwin. Tafero’s date with the electric chair was on May 4, 1990. But when the executioner threw the switch, six-inch flames and a cloud of smoke emerged from Tafero’s hooded head. His dispatch required three jolts of electricity. Reason? “Inadvertent human error.”

QUOTE: “It took seven minutes before the prison doctor pronounced him dead, seven minutes of heaving, nodding, flame, and smoke.” — EXECUTION WITNESS

DOOMED: Clayton Lockett. (ODC)
DOOMED: Clayton Lockett. (ODC)
CLAYTON LOCKETT
411: Lockett went to collect money owed to him for drugs at the Oklahoma home of Bobby Bornt. There, he raped a young woman, Summer Hair, and murdered her friend Stephanie Neiman. On April 29, 2014, the day of execution, he had to be tasered to get him into the death room. Lockett’s heart should have stopped immediately after he was injected with potassium chloride. It did not and he was injected again, this time hitting an artery and causing blood to spray around the death house, soaking the doctor. Lockett died en route to hospital.


QUOTE: “It was like a horror movie. He [Lockett] kept trying to talk.” — WITNESS EDITH SHOALS

TOMMASINA TEOLIS-SARO
411: The Montreal femme fatale had plotted with two hitmen to take her hubby off the board. And on March 28, 1935, Teolis-Saro was decapitated at Bordeaux Prison when executioner Arthur Ellis made a miscalculation on her weight. It ended the black widow but also the career of Canada’s hangman because of the public outcry.

JIMMY LEE GRAY: AN AGONIZING DEATH. (MDC)
JIMMY LEE GRAY: AN AGONIZING DEATH. (MDC)
JIMMY LEE GRAY
411: The executioner was hammered when Gray — who kidnapped, raped and murdered a three-year-old Mississippi girl — was about to get his ticket punched on September 2, 1983. But the sodden executioner failed to administer the correct amount of toxic gas. As a result, it took 10 agonizing minutes of horrific pain.

JOHN EVANS: Night train to Nowheresville. (Getty Images)
JOHN EVANS: Night train to Nowheresville. (Getty Images)
JOHN EVANS
411: Evans went to the Alabama electric chair — known as Yellow Mama — On April 22, 1983, for the 1977 murder of a Mobile pawn shop owner. On his day of destiny, Evans was literally burned alive after surviving 1900 volt shocks.


QUOTE: “A large puff of greyish smoke and sparks poured out from under the hood that covered Mr. Evans’s face. An overpowering stench of burnt flesh and clothing began pervading the witness room. The stench of burning flesh was nauseating.” — EVANS’ LAWYER, RUSSELL CANAN

This January 24, 2020, image obtained from the Oklahoma Department of Corrections in Oklahoma City, shows death row inmate John Marion Grant.
This January 24, 2020, image obtained from the Oklahoma Department of Corrections in Oklahoma City shows death row inmate John Marion Grant. Photo by Oklahoma Department of Correction /AFP via Getty Images
JOHN MARION GRANT
411: Grant, 60, was serving a 130-year sentence for armed robbery when he murdered a prison worker – earning him a ticket on the night train. But on October 28, 2021, he was given the toxic cocktail to eternity and was left convulsing and puking on the gurney. He was pronounced dead a horrific 21 minutes after he was first administered midazolam.

bhunter@postmedia.com

@HunterTOSun

EXECUTIONER'S WRONG: Christa Pike latest death penalty mistake

Sadly, Pike's execution isn't the first, nor will it be the last to go off the rails. Read on.

torontosun.com

 

[spaminator]

What happens next after Christa Pike survived two doses of lethal injection?
Tennessee has halted executions for the rest of 2026 and ordered a review after death row inmate remains 'critically ill'

Author of the articleenette Wilford
Published Oct 02, 2026 • Last updated 1 day ago • 3 minute read
This handout picture dated January 12, 2023 provided by the Tennessee Department of Correction shows convicted US murderer Christa Pike. The US state of Tennessee is set on September 30, 2026, to execute a woman for the first time in 200 years, three decades after she murdered a classmate. Christa Pike, now 50, was 18 when she and her boyfriend beat and killed Colleen Slemmer, 19, at a job training camp for young people.
This handout picture dated Jan. 12, 2023, provided by the Tennessee Department of Correction, shows death row inmate Christa Pike. The state of Tennessee attempted to execute Pike on Sept. 30, 2026 — which would have marked the first execution of a woman in the state in more than 200 years — but the lethal injection ultimately failed after she survived two doses of the drug. Photo by HANDOUT /Tennessee Department of Correcti

Christa Pike’s future remains unclear after Tennessee’s botched execution left her in dire shape.


“Christa is critically ill but not in a coma, as I understand it,” her attorney Randy Spivey told TMZ, after she survived two doses of pentobarbital during an attempt to execute her at a Nashville maximum-security prison.

He added that she remains unconscious and unable to communicate.

Spivey also noted that Pike’s execution warrant expired, forcing the Tennessee Supreme Court to set a new date before the state can attempt to execute her again.

Pike was sentenced to death for the January 1995 murder of 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer, after she and two others lured the victim to a remote area on the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville and tortured her and beat her until she died.

Previous challenges
Pike’s attorneys, Spivey and Kelly Gleason, had challenged her execution by lethal injection before Wednesday, saying her blood disorder and small veins created a risk of complications, pain and bleeding.


They requested that the state consider alternatives such as death by firing squad or hanging.

“We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms. Pike proved to be true: difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy,” they said in a statement following the failed execution attempt.

The Tennessee Department of Correction maintained that it followed established protocol and that lethal injection has “consistently been effective,” according to its own statement.

18 AND DEATH ROW BOUND: Christa Pike. FAMILY
Christa Pike at 18. (Family)
‘Joyous laugh and chuckle’
Pike laughed and sang a traditional Buddhist chant in the execution chamber during the attempt to put her to death.

WVLT reporter William Puckett said the laughing and repeated mantra started after the drugs were administered, before she appeared to be having “the best sleep of her life.”

Pike was still conscious and moving on the gurney after she was administered the lethal injection around 8:27 p.m. CT — which was supposed to kill her within minutes — when she suddenly let out “a joyous laugh and chuckle,” Puckett told the Daily Mail.


Before that, she had begun singing and repeating the words, “Be kind and gentle to yourself and may you be at peace.”

Even with the curtain closed, they could hear a “loud, deep in the back of the sinus cavity snore” like an old man sleeping, Puckett revealed, adding, “It was like she was getting the best sleep of her life.”

The curtain rose again three minutes later, and the execution team gave her another dose.

Four minutes later, Pike’s body twitched “abruptly” and she gave a “significant gasp for air,” Puckett recalled. The curtain closed again, but the snoring could be heard for another 50 minutes, he said.



Governor orders review
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said he has halted scheduled executions for the rest of 2026, the only other one being convicted killer Gary Wayne Sutton’s, which was set for Dec. 3.


The governor ordered a review into Pike’s case, which follows another botched execution in May involving convicted murderer Tony Carruthers.

That execution was called off after officials were unable to establish a backup IV line, and Carruthers was granted a one-year reprieve.

Tony Carruthers.
Tony Carruthers. (Tennessee Dept. of Corrections) Photo by Tennessee Dept. of Corrections
“The Governor has appropriately called for an investigation,” the office of Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in a statement. “We need to know what happened.”

Death penalty opponents argued that Pike’s execution attempt highlights the cruelty of capital punishment and called for state officials to make the results of the investigation public.

Spivey, however, said the governor’s call for a review isn’t enough and called for Lee to commute her sentence, saying she had endured punishment “greater than any other person in the history of the American death penalty.”

Inside Christa Pike's botched execution: Minute-by-minute

Now, one of the few people to witness Christa Pike's botched execution with his own eyes has shared a minute-by-minute account of what exactly unfolded inside the walls of the Nashville prison.

dailymail.com

Christa Pike's Lawyer Says She's Critically Ill in Hospital, Not Comatose

Christa Pike's botched execution attempt took a serious toll on her ... with her lawyer saying she's in bad shape in the hospital -- but making it clear she's not in a coma.

tmz.com

What happens next after Christa Pike survived two doses of lethal injection?

Christa Pike’s future remains unclear after Tennessee’s botched execution left her 'critically ill'. Read on for more details.

torontosun.com

 

[55Mercury]

Doesn't Double Jeopardy come into play at all? Like you can't be convicted twice for the same crime, can you be sentenced to death twice for the same crime?

 

[spaminator]

Tennessee's prisons chief resigns after failed Christa Pike execution, governor says
Inmate remained hospitalized and on ventilator as of Thursday in Nashville hospital, according to court filing from her attorneys

Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Alex Horton
Published Oct 03, 2026 • 2 minute read
This handout picture dated January 12, 2023 provided by the Tennessee Department of Correction shows convicted US murderer Christa Pike. The US state of Tennessee is set on September 30, 2026, to execute a woman for the first time in 200 years, three decades after she murdered a classmate. Christa Pike, now 50, was 18 when she and her boyfriend beat and killed Colleen Slemmer, 19, at a job training camp for young people.
This handout picture dated Jan. 12, 2023, provided by the Tennessee Department of Correction, shows death row inmate Christa Pike. The state of Tennessee attempted to execute Pike on Sept. 30, 2026 — which would have marked the first execution of a woman in the state in more than 200 years — but the lethal injection ultimately failed after she survived two doses of the drug. Photo by HANDOUT /Tennessee Department of Correcti

The Tennessee prison chief has resigned after the botched execution of Christa Pike earlier this week, Gov. Bill Lee (R) said Saturday. After two doses of lethal injection drugs rendered Pike unconscious, Lee had earlier ordered a third-party review and halted all scheduled executions in the state.


Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada offered his resignation and will step down sometime this month, Lee said in a statement, after the failed execution on Wednesday.

“Commissioner Strada has served with integrity, and I appreciate his willingness to put the interests of Tennesseans first during this difficult moment,” Lee said.

Pike remained hospitalized and on a ventilator as of Thursday in a Nashville hospital, according to a court filing from her attorneys. Doctors worked to remove pentobarbital from her system after she arrived with both arms “swollen, burned, and blistered,” the filing said.

Second botched execution this year
Pike’s botched execution was the second this year under Strada. In May, the execution of convicted murderer Tony Carruthers was called off after personnel could not establish a backup IV line, as required by the state’s execution protocol. It left him bleeding and in pain, his attorney said, and Lee granted him a one-year reprieve.


“The resignation of Commissioner Strada is justified, but it does nothing to help Christa now,” her attorneys said in a statement. “What happened to her Wednesday reflects a systemic failure that goes far beyond any one person. We hope the Governor’s call for a full, independent review will expose the profound problems within Tennessee’s entire death penalty system.”



Strada defended his agency’s role, saying he believes the corrections department “carried out its responsibilities in accordance with the established protocol.”

Dorinda Carter, a spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Correction, declined to respond to questions about Strada’s resignation and whether the failed execution of Carruthers also played a role.

Pike had been sentenced to death for her role in killing Colleen Slemmer in 1995, when both of them were teenagers. Pike and two other teens lured Slemmer into the woods in Knoxville, where they tortured and killed her, according to court filings.


Pike’s legal team alleged state officials did not follow their own lethal injection protocol while trying to execute Pike with pentobarbital. The execution team acted incompetently and showed “deliberate indifference to her basic medical needs,” Pike’s lawyers wrote.

Calls to abolish death penalty in U.S.
Advocates have seized on the high-profile failure to call for the abolishment of the death penalty across the country. The number of executions has declined in the past two decades, coinciding with more states banning the practice.

Community leaders and attorneys have called on Lee and and other Tennessee officials to address “huge problems with the competency of the state’s execution process,” said Laura Porter, executive director of the U.S. Campaign to End the Death Penalty.

“They were ignored,” Porter said. “Hopefully this is the beginning of accountability and an end to secrecy that enables these debacles.”

— Mark Berman, Katie Mettler and Brady Dennis contributed to this report.

Tennessee's prisons chief resigns after failed Christa Pike execution, governor says

The Tennessee prison chief has resigned after the botched execution of Christa Pike, Gov. Bill Lee said Saturday.

torontosun.com

 

[Taxslave2]

Must be Trumps fault.
I wanted to be first.

 

[spaminator]

Christa Pike conscious, speaking after surviving botched execution: Lawyers
Death row inmate received two supposedly lethal doses of pentobarbital last week at Tennessee prison

Author of the article:AFP
AFP
Published Oct 06, 2026 • 1 minute read
Christa Pike
Christa Pike, Tennessee's only woman on death row, was scheduled to be executed last week. Photo by TDOC

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The female inmate who survived a failed execution in a U.S. prison last week is now conscious and speaking, but her prognosis remains unclear, her lawyers said on Tuesday.


Christa Pike, 50, who was sentenced to death for a murder she committed when she was a teenager, received two supposedly lethal doses of the drug pentobarbital at a Tennessee prison a week ago.

She survived the injections, however, and was rushed to a hospital, where she had been unconscious and on a ventilator in critical condition.

Pike’s lawyers said that “against all odds” she was now “conscious, speaking and continues to receive critical medical care.

“Despite the severe damage she endured to her arms, she is still handcuffed and shackled to the bed,” they said. “Her recovery is medically unprecedented. Her prognosis remains unclear, but at a minimum we expect a long recovery.”

Her lawyers repeated a call for Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to commute Pike’s sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.


Lee suspended the carrying out of capital punishment in the southern state following the failed execution pending an independent investigation. The prison chief has resigned.

Pike’s case sparked debate over the death penalty for young offenders as she was 18 when she and her boyfriend beat and killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer at a job training camp in 1995.

The killing gained national attention after Slemmer’s body was found with a pentagram, often seen as a satanic symbol, carved on her chest.

Pike’s lawyers sought clemency citing her age, childhood sexual abuse and mental-health problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, which publishes data and analysis on capital punishment in the U.S., Pike is the first inmate ever to survive “after being injected with lethal doses of execution drugs.”

Christa Pike conscious, speaking after surviving botched execution: Lawyers

The death row inmate received two supposedly lethal doses of the drug pentobarbital at a Tennessee prison a week ago. Read more.

torontosun.com

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

To me it is unclear why they attached her to a respirator. If she can't survive the lethal injections without over the top medical care, then would that not just be the lethal injections working?

 

[spaminator]

To me it is unclear why they attached her to a respirator. If she can't survive the lethal injections without over the top medical care, then would that not just be the lethal injections working?

all they have to do is tell ice that shes a democrat, lgtbq, a minority, and an illegal.