What a mess....
LEGAL SCOTUS vacates stay of execution for TN woman Christa Pike (***EXECUTION BOTCHED and STILL ALIVE, Post #7***)
- Thread starter auxman
- Start date
What a mess....
thompson
Certa Bonum Certamen
Agree with everything you said, just want to make a correction. It's pentobarbital that is used, not phenobarb.
Npr radio had been reporting on the case a couple days prior. There had been appeals concerning some sort of diagnosed clotting disease claiming that it wouldn't work.
I think most normal folks would assume EVERY possible avenue of appeal usually gets thrown to see what sticks.
The reverberations from this will be insufferable. Jmo
I would be looking at the team involved administering the drugs with. a. microscope.
I think most normal folks would assume EVERY possible avenue of appeal usually gets thrown to see what sticks.
The reverberations from this will be insufferable. Jmo
I would be looking at the team involved administering the drugs with. a. microscope.
auxman
Deus Vult
So how many "billable hours" are going to be generated out of this mess?
For that matter, how much was spent to get to this complete FUBAR vs what it would cost to have "simply" locked her up for life without possibility of parole? I'm not talking about "justice" here. Considering the crime involved that's probably unattainable in the truest sense. I'm looking at this from the view of "cost benefit analysis".
From that standpoint the State of Tennessee, as well as the United States is in an Olympic Pool worth of red ink in this case, both in the lead up to today and the after effects of today's events.
For that matter, how much was spent to get to this complete FUBAR vs what it would cost to have "simply" locked her up for life without possibility of parole? I'm not talking about "justice" here. Considering the crime involved that's probably unattainable in the truest sense. I'm looking at this from the view of "cost benefit analysis".
From that standpoint the State of Tennessee, as well as the United States is in an Olympic Pool worth of red ink in this case, both in the lead up to today and the after effects of today's events.
barbarossa58
Veteran Member
thompson
Certa Bonum Certamen
Firing squads seldom (if ever?) miss.
Still no word I can find from TDOC.
Click on the link to read the motion
www.wsmv.com
Doctor involved in Tony Carruthers’ botched execution administered Christa Pike’s lethal injection — and she’s still alive
Ihnen confirmed the team is filing a motion to stay the execution, the latest in a back-and-forth over the “Jobs Corps Murder” convict’s execution.
By Camruinn Morgan-Rumsey and Kassidy Brown
Published: Sep. 30, 2026 at 9:33 PM CDT
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV/WVLT) - Christa Gail Pike is still alive after being administered a lethal injection, according to Luke Ihnen, an assistant federal defender on her defense team.
Ihnen confirmed Pike had received two syringes of a lethal drug, Ihnen said, adding the team is filing a motion to stay the execution. It marks the latest in a back-and-forth over the “Jobs Corps Murder” convict’s execution.
According to an emergency motion to halt and stay Pike’s execution, Pike did not lose consciousness and still had a heartbeat after receiving the lethal injection doses. The motion also said she was audibly snoring.
The motion also mentioned that the curtains went down twice.
The petition is requesting the immediate stay of Pike’s execution and for her to receive immediate medical care.
Attorneys for Pike released a statement late Wednesday saying that Pike is being treated at a nearby hospital.
“Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution,” they said. “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.”
As of 10:40 p.m. CT, they said they had not been informed about her condition.
Based off the latest information available, it marks the latest failed attempt by the State of Tennessee to execute an inmate on death row. The state’s death penalty procedure has faced past scrutiny after botched executions prompted a pause from Gov. Bill Lee. The attempted Tennessee execution of Tony Carruthers was abandoned in May after medical staff failed to establish IV access, a process that took over an hour.
Mark Fowler, the doctor who was involved in Carruthers’ attempted execution, also oversaw Pike’s — at this time — attempted death sentence.
That said, August saw a successful Tennessee execution in Anthony Darrell Hines, who was put to death at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville for the 1985 murder of Catherine Jean Jackson Jenkins.
However August also saw a three-day hearing, during which Pike’s defense team argued that she had a vein condition, which would make finding a vein to administer the lethal drug difficult.
Less than an hour before Pike was originally supposed to be executed at 11 a.m. Wednesday, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay pausing her execution. That pause then prompted a response from the state, which asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and allow the execution to continue.
The highest court in the country lifted the stay just before 7 p.m., which set in motion Pike’s execution.
Pike was convicted in 1996 in the “Jobs Corps Murder,” a name that came about because both Pike and the victim — 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer — were members of the Jobs Corps at the time of the girl’s 1995 killing. Prosecutors and testimony have said Pike conspired with two others, 17-year-old Tadaryl Shipp and 18-year-old Shadolla Peterson, to kill Slemmer over relationship issues. It was discovered throughout the case that the offenders had carved a pentacle into Slemmer’s chest and taken a piece of her skull as a souvenir of the grisly murder.
At this time, there’s no word on what the state’s next steps will be in Pike’s planned execution.
Still no word I can find from TDOC.
Click on the link to read the motion
Doctor involved in Tony Carruthers’ botched execution administered Christa Pike’s lethal injection — and she’s still alive
Ihnen confirmed the team is filing a motion to stay the execution, the latest in a back-and-forth over the “Jobs Corps Murder” convict’s execution.
www.wsmv.com
Doctor involved in Tony Carruthers’ botched execution administered Christa Pike’s lethal injection — and she’s still alive
Ihnen confirmed the team is filing a motion to stay the execution, the latest in a back-and-forth over the “Jobs Corps Murder” convict’s execution.
By Camruinn Morgan-Rumsey and Kassidy Brown
Published: Sep. 30, 2026 at 9:33 PM CDT
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV/WVLT) - Christa Gail Pike is still alive after being administered a lethal injection, according to Luke Ihnen, an assistant federal defender on her defense team.
Ihnen confirmed Pike had received two syringes of a lethal drug, Ihnen said, adding the team is filing a motion to stay the execution. It marks the latest in a back-and-forth over the “Jobs Corps Murder” convict’s execution.
According to an emergency motion to halt and stay Pike’s execution, Pike did not lose consciousness and still had a heartbeat after receiving the lethal injection doses. The motion also said she was audibly snoring.
The motion also mentioned that the curtains went down twice.
The petition is requesting the immediate stay of Pike’s execution and for her to receive immediate medical care.
Attorneys for Pike released a statement late Wednesday saying that Pike is being treated at a nearby hospital.
“Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution,” they said. “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.”
As of 10:40 p.m. CT, they said they had not been informed about her condition.
Based off the latest information available, it marks the latest failed attempt by the State of Tennessee to execute an inmate on death row. The state’s death penalty procedure has faced past scrutiny after botched executions prompted a pause from Gov. Bill Lee. The attempted Tennessee execution of Tony Carruthers was abandoned in May after medical staff failed to establish IV access, a process that took over an hour.
Mark Fowler, the doctor who was involved in Carruthers’ attempted execution, also oversaw Pike’s — at this time — attempted death sentence.
That said, August saw a successful Tennessee execution in Anthony Darrell Hines, who was put to death at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville for the 1985 murder of Catherine Jean Jackson Jenkins.
However August also saw a three-day hearing, during which Pike’s defense team argued that she had a vein condition, which would make finding a vein to administer the lethal drug difficult.
Less than an hour before Pike was originally supposed to be executed at 11 a.m. Wednesday, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay pausing her execution. That pause then prompted a response from the state, which asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and allow the execution to continue.
The highest court in the country lifted the stay just before 7 p.m., which set in motion Pike’s execution.
Pike was convicted in 1996 in the “Jobs Corps Murder,” a name that came about because both Pike and the victim — 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer — were members of the Jobs Corps at the time of the girl’s 1995 killing. Prosecutors and testimony have said Pike conspired with two others, 17-year-old Tadaryl Shipp and 18-year-old Shadolla Peterson, to kill Slemmer over relationship issues. It was discovered throughout the case that the offenders had carved a pentacle into Slemmer’s chest and taken a piece of her skull as a souvenir of the grisly murder.
At this time, there’s no word on what the state’s next steps will be in Pike’s planned execution.
I'm with you. I don't understand any of what they are doing. To begin with 30 years on death row? Ridiculous!
Put them to sleep like they do the sick in right to die states. Unless of course late date torture hanging over their head is part of the punishment.
Southern Hen
Senior Member
Tony Carruthers refused food and drink for several days before his attempted execution.
He was big time dehydrated when they went to try and find his veins. They never could insert the needle, and that is why his execution was botched.
Did you notice how she did not partake of a last meal?
Hummmm….
Who wants to bet that she did something similar?
How much food - and especially water - did she drink before the appointed hour?
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Southern Hen
Senior Member
Ah, Meharry…
I know the overall reputation that hospital has, HOWEVER…
The absolute BEST GP I ever had in my entire life was a young black man from Meharry who was so young the ink was still wet on his medical license when I first encountered him.
He came to my rural town with the Rural Health Service for four years, right after his residency (or whatever minimum he had to serve) to earn his credentials.
He was better than my cancer doctor at following me after my cancer.
When it was time for him to leave, I followed him to the clinic in Memphis that he moved to - he was that great.
But then he left Memphis and went to East St Louis. i was NOT going to follow him there.
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Southern Hen
Senior Member
Probably because her lawyer was already in contact with the Tennessee State Supreme Court over the matter.
I have not heard any official word on this having happened, but How much you want to bet that it was a woke justice sitting on the state Supreme Court who ordered the execution halted and EMS sent in?
This has all the earmarkings of a PLANNED CONSPIRACY to thwart the process.
Purposeful, preplanned dehydration to aggravate any preexisting condition she might have had, plus at least one justice on the TN Court of Appeals conveniently on tap by phone to order the newest stay at a moments notice …
(Mind you, this is speculation on my part - at least until more information becomes available).
Hummm….
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Southern Hen
Senior Member
I think the defense learned this manuever from the botched Tony Carruthers execution.
And it will be used with increasing frequency, IMHO, in future executions forced to use pentobarbital.
The state was forced to use pentobarbital because bona fide medical suppliers and pharmacies have been refusing to sell lethal drugs to state execution squads across the country for some time now. Tennessee struggled to even get their hands on the pentobarbital.
Investigate it. This has been going on for several years now, and is a problem for all states still trying to use lethal injections as a execution method across the nation.
Pharmacies do not want to sell drugs to the state that will be used to kill people, citing legal and moral concerns. Hippicratic oath, etc.
However, they do not hesitate to sell abortion drugs to both medical professionals and the general public. Please note, I am only bringing attention to the obvious hypocracy here.
This really is a different issue, that should not to be debated in this thread (though it would be appropriate to discuss it in its own thread).
And it will be used with increasing frequency, IMHO, in future executions forced to use pentobarbital.
The state was forced to use pentobarbital because bona fide medical suppliers and pharmacies have been refusing to sell lethal drugs to state execution squads across the country for some time now. Tennessee struggled to even get their hands on the pentobarbital.
Investigate it. This has been going on for several years now, and is a problem for all states still trying to use lethal injections as a execution method across the nation.
Pharmacies do not want to sell drugs to the state that will be used to kill people, citing legal and moral concerns. Hippicratic oath, etc.
However, they do not hesitate to sell abortion drugs to both medical professionals and the general public. Please note, I am only bringing attention to the obvious hypocracy here.
This really is a different issue, that should not to be debated in this thread (though it would be appropriate to discuss it in its own thread).
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Melodi
Disaster Cat
I vaguely remember (and I don't have time to research this) drug companies warning U.S. states that companies that had been making drugs used in legal injections had stopped making them. As a result, the current "approved" drugs (or whatever they are) were likely to fail because they simply were not up to that purpose, nor were they designed for it.
I suspect this is more likely than a conspiracy to make sure the execution failed. That, and perhaps there is some truth concerning the difficulties of finding a useful vein. It looks like the first guy figured out a way to game the system, and other than force-feeding or putting those about to be executed on a drip, I don't see how they can solve that problem.
Personally, I favor life without the possibility of parole, but that's me. However, if they are going to have executions, using drugs that are likely to fail is probably not the way to handle them.
Edited to add: Southern Hen and I posted at almost exactly the same moment, and her information is probably closer to correct than mine is.
I suspect this is more likely than a conspiracy to make sure the execution failed. That, and perhaps there is some truth concerning the difficulties of finding a useful vein. It looks like the first guy figured out a way to game the system, and other than force-feeding or putting those about to be executed on a drip, I don't see how they can solve that problem.
Personally, I favor life without the possibility of parole, but that's me. However, if they are going to have executions, using drugs that are likely to fail is probably not the way to handle them.
Edited to add: Southern Hen and I posted at almost exactly the same moment, and her information is probably closer to correct than mine is.
Southern Hen
Senior Member
It seems to me that if pharmacies and other bona fide medical suppliers are going to continue to refuse to sell the better lethal drugs to state execution squads, then maybe states like Tennessee need to quit trying to offer lethal injection as an option at all.
Southern Hen
Senior Member
Something else to notice here.
Pike complained that her veins would be too small for the pentobarbital in a court hearing in August, and in a dramatic act designed mostly for media coverage, her lawyers suggested hanging as an option (knowing fully well before they did that, that hanging was not a legal option in Tennessee).
The court could not grant the illegal hanging option, but they did offer her the option of execution by electric chair if she was concerned by vein size. Execution by electric chair is still legal in Tennessee.
She refused that option, and chose the pentobarbital option instead.
She CHOSE pentobarbital fully knowing she had “small veins”.
Why?
Maybe because she had a way of maximizing that “small vein” problem by purposefully dehydrating herself, and possibly beating the system???
Pike complained that her veins would be too small for the pentobarbital in a court hearing in August, and in a dramatic act designed mostly for media coverage, her lawyers suggested hanging as an option (knowing fully well before they did that, that hanging was not a legal option in Tennessee).
The court could not grant the illegal hanging option, but they did offer her the option of execution by electric chair if she was concerned by vein size. Execution by electric chair is still legal in Tennessee.
She refused that option, and chose the pentobarbital option instead.
She CHOSE pentobarbital fully knowing she had “small veins”.
Why?
Maybe because she had a way of maximizing that “small vein” problem by purposefully dehydrating herself, and possibly beating the system???
Melodi
Disaster Cat
That's possible, but honestly, can you blame her? Not to mention that many people probably wouldn't be hungry before an execution, so other than force-feeding people or putting them on a drip for 48 hours before a planned execution, I don't see a good solution (and I'm not advocating doing that either).
It is, however, becoming obvious that whatever is being used for lethal injections isn't working, and for whatever reason the State is refusing to consider things like fentanyl or other drugs that are known to kill people.
Again, not my preferred punishment, but if they are going to do it - do it correctly, and courts have ruled, without cruelty.
DryCreek
Veteran Member
Maybe they can play this out like the movie Groundhog Day!
Imagine waking up every morning knowing that you are going to be marched down that long hallway to be strapped onto a gurney and injected with (nearly) lethal chemicals. Day after day.
How else could you make the death penalty any more of a deterrent?
Imagine waking up every morning knowing that you are going to be marched down that long hallway to be strapped onto a gurney and injected with (nearly) lethal chemicals. Day after day.
How else could you make the death penalty any more of a deterrent?
Bud in Fla
Veteran Member
A .22 short or LR only costs about 14¢. JS
Dobbin
Faithful Steed
Owner tells of going as a child to the "state fair" and there seeing the "electric chair."
He reflects on this now and says "The chair itself was nothing extraordinary - a simple wooden chair in 'mission' style" - except it was fitted with arm and leg restraints and a HOOD which was lowered over the head and held in place by a strap."
He says there were no "knife switches" or Frankenstein like insulators. "You simply were strapped into the chair and the electricity was turned on for about a minute to stop your heart."
Of course that was 1960s. Today humans are more "humane."
Except when they're not due to their ineffectiveness.
Dobbin
He reflects on this now and says "The chair itself was nothing extraordinary - a simple wooden chair in 'mission' style" - except it was fitted with arm and leg restraints and a HOOD which was lowered over the head and held in place by a strap."
He says there were no "knife switches" or Frankenstein like insulators. "You simply were strapped into the chair and the electricity was turned on for about a minute to stop your heart."
Of course that was 1960s. Today humans are more "humane."
Except when they're not due to their ineffectiveness.
Dobbin
Either a bad stick, or bad drugs on this execution attempt.
Pentobarbital has been euthanasia drug of choice for pets and livestock for decades. I won't get into the modern use of veterinary "euthanasia solution" which still is mostly pentobarb. Works as well on humans...that is if you get it in the vein! Would hurt like hell if they didn't. Anybody who has ever given themselves a needle stick with a pentobarb needle knows the "sting".
I still think an overdose of surgical gas anesthesia would be the safest and cleanest for executions. Put a bag over their head and pump it in. To effect.
Pentobarbital has been euthanasia drug of choice for pets and livestock for decades. I won't get into the modern use of veterinary "euthanasia solution" which still is mostly pentobarb. Works as well on humans...that is if you get it in the vein! Would hurt like hell if they didn't. Anybody who has ever given themselves a needle stick with a pentobarb needle knows the "sting".
I still think an overdose of surgical gas anesthesia would be the safest and cleanest for executions. Put a bag over their head and pump it in. To effect.
A thrift store, now gone, had a skull cap, or whatever you call it, for the electric chair, on sale for $600. They couldn't verify actual use. I found the display unspeakably morbid.
Griz3752
Retired, practising Curmudgeon
If it's only insufferable, I'll be pleased beyond compare!
What baffles me is this process is several long-standarised small procedures; starting IVs and Central (PIC) lines happens in every hospital in the country. Why do the contracted providers in TN seem to be missing the mark so widely of late?
I am a proponent of Capital Punishment when appropriate but if that is what has been deemed the only available outcome for the crimes committed, get it done right the first time and then its over for any and all concerned.
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Sounds like most likely they didn't know how to start an IV correctly. They administered the sedative that leaked into the tissues and essentially slow released then with the Potassium Chloride it too leaked into the tissues. That will be quite painful and burn, particularly the doses at that level.
Very similar to the error where they gave potassium chloride in a block in the hospital that paralyzed the patients recently. Will cause a lot of damage but since it doesn't get to the heart quickly via IV it doesn't stop the heart.
A major cluster.
Very similar to the error where they gave potassium chloride in a block in the hospital that paralyzed the patients recently. Will cause a lot of damage but since it doesn't get to the heart quickly via IV it doesn't stop the heart.
A major cluster.
CaryC
TB Fanatic
A couple of thoughts:
Almost all executions can and have gone wrong. Especially if the perp can have any input like dehydration.
Which is an actual thing. Going on a fast before a doctor's visit, possible have trouble with veins, and if not on a fast, drink plenty of water so they can hit a vein. And SB has small veins and trouble with hitting on while dehydrated is a night mare.
Even beheadings with an axe have gone wrong. The executioner missed the neck. Try, try again.
Hangings have gone wrong and didn't snap the neck, so they chocked to death.
About the only thing that is spot on in an execution is the Guillotine.
Women (libs) in red shirts will come out in droves in support of setting her free now.
State law says after 2 tries and no death result has to be taken to hospital.
Almost all executions can and have gone wrong. Especially if the perp can have any input like dehydration.
Which is an actual thing. Going on a fast before a doctor's visit, possible have trouble with veins, and if not on a fast, drink plenty of water so they can hit a vein. And SB has small veins and trouble with hitting on while dehydrated is a night mare.
Even beheadings with an axe have gone wrong. The executioner missed the neck. Try, try again.
Hangings have gone wrong and didn't snap the neck, so they chocked to death.
About the only thing that is spot on in an execution is the Guillotine.
Women (libs) in red shirts will come out in droves in support of setting her free now.
State law says after 2 tries and no death result has to be taken to hospital.
Dobbin
Faithful Steed
Agenda (to eliminate capital punishment) meet operative ordered to ineffect it.
Dobbin
They problem apparently is getting a competent person to set up the procedure and administer the drug(s). THAT is political, because there are hundreds of thousands who would be fully capable and competent.
Keep in mind that TPTB want these screw-ups.
Doc1
Has No Life - Lives on TB
There was a case in the 19th century of an inmate who was scheduled to die by hanging. For some reason - probably too short of a drop - the hanging didn't work and, additionally, he didn't strangle to death. After some minutes of swinging on the rope, they cut him down.
His attorney claimed that he was sentenced to be hung and consequently, having fulfilled the hanging he should be set free...and he was.
I will note that firing squads always work!
Best
Doc
His attorney claimed that he was sentenced to be hung and consequently, having fulfilled the hanging he should be set free...and he was.
I will note that firing squads always work!
Best
Doc
CaryC
TB Fanatic
I get the competent part but even competent doctors and nurses can have a lot of trouble finding a vein, especially if dehydrated, just to draw blood, and they do it for a living every day.
energy_wave
TB Fanatic
How many abortions have gone wrong.
But they manage to get the job done. Here, the bungling is caused by "ethical considerations" and politics. Trained health care workers won't participate on loss of their license and jobs, and the states won't allow veterinary-trained people to do it because of "ethics" and laws. So they end up with a not very practiced hack doing the job.
Dobbin
Faithful Steed
Justice delayed is justice denied - Wikipedia
In this case an execution is a "quick end" once the decision and appeals have run themselves out. The fact that this case has gone on for more than a human generation kind of tells you something about the desire of the State.
But for execution the cost - and the influence - ends.
Far better for an ineffectual government to "keep an offender alive", run out all the appeals, THEN support him/her for the rest of their natural life. An entire "system" of government (penal) is devoted to this. A system popularized and extended by "friend of a friend."
And - for the Marxists - the added attraction of an "early release", or a Judge who allows an appeal LONG after the sentencing on the basis of "humanity." Or, Maker forbid, discovery of additional "rationale" for extending OR releasing the prisoner. Both have attraction to Marxists and those who wish to "tear down" the established order.
An execution would end all that.
Dobbin
Its not that difficult, even if dehydrated.
Use ultrasound to place a midline instead of a peripheral access. Better choice for all involved