Woman survives two lethal injections during execution attempt in Tennessee

Christa Pike survived a lethal injection execution in Tennessee on September 30, 2026. This is the first time in US history that an inmate has survived such a procedure. Pike, 50, was sentenced to death for killing a fellow student in 1995, when she was 18. Prison staff spent about one hour trying to place two intravenous lines before giving her two doses of pentobarbital, as required by protocol. She remained alive after both doses and was taken to hospital in critical condition. Her lawyers believe the drugs may have entered muscle tissue instead of a vein. Pike would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.