Christa Pike is one of eight people in US history to survive execution by lethal injection

Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike survived two lethal injections, making her one of eight people in US history to survive an execution attempt by this method. 

She was due to be executed at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on Wednesday at around 8pm local time, but she was still awake after two doses of a lethal injection. Her legal team filed an emergency motion to stop the execution as she still had a heartbeat and was “audibly snoring”. 

The 50-year-old was sentenced to death on 30th March 1996 after torturing and killing her classmate Colleen Slemmer in a jealous rage because she thought she was attempting to “steal” her boyfriend at the time, Tadaryl Shipp.  She has spent the last 30 years on death row. 

As revealed by the Death Penalty Information Centre, there have been 75 botched execution attempts by lethal injection. However, only eight of them survived. If the lethal injection was actually administered into her bloodstream, Pike will be the only person to ever survive this. 

Romell Broom, Ohio, 2009

Credit: Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction

Executioners spent two hours trying to find a suitable vein in the 63-year-old. After at least 18 attempts to insert the IV into his arms and legs, the execution was cancelled and rescheduled for June 2020, then delayed to March 2022. However, he died in prison from Covid-19 aged 64 in 2020 before it was scheduled to be carried out. 

Alva Campbell, Ohio, 2017

Credit: Ohio Department Of Rehabilitation And Correction

Medical personnel spent 80 minutes trying to find a usable vein, but couldn’t find one suitable. The 69-year-old was extremely unwell with lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, respiratory failure, prostate cancer, and severe pneumonia, and died from natural causes on death row several months later.

Doyle Lee Hamm, Alabama, 2018

Credit: Alabama Department of Corrections

He survived a two-and-a-half hour execution attempt as medical staff repeatedly punctured his groin, legs, and ankles to find a vein, aged 61. He was suffering from advanced lymphatic cancer at the time and suffered severe pain. In a lawsuit, Alabama agreed to never attempt to execute him again, and he died in prison of natural causes in 2021, aged 64.

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Alan Miller, Alabama, 2022

Credit: Alabama Department of Corrections

Staff spent three hours trying to establish IV access late at night, but the execution was called off as the midnight death warrant expired. The 57-year-old sued the state, and they agreed not to execute him with the lethal injection again. He was later executed by nitrogen hypoxia, aged 59. 

Kenneth Eugene Smith, Alabama, 2022

Credit: Alabama Department of Corrections

He was also executed by nitrogen hypoxia in 2024, aged 58, after the lethal injection failed during a previous execution attempt, the first time this capital punishment method had been used globally. In 2022, when he was 57, staff spent an hour struggling to find an IV vein. 

Thomas Eugene Creech, Idaho, 2024

Credit: Idaho Department of Corrections

Executioners tried to find a vein for almost an hour, making eight attempts before the execution was called off. He had a second execution date scheduled for November 2024, but that was called off, and he is still alive and incarcerated on death row at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, aged 76.

Tony Carruthers, Tennessee, 2026 

Credit: Tennessee Department of Correction

Christa Pike is the second person to survive an execution attempt in Tennessee this year. Tony Carruthers was granted a one-year reprieve from death after his executioners found a primary IV line but no backup line during his execution in May, aged 57. 

For more, like The Tab on Facebook. Featured image credit: Tennessee Department of Corrections