When an Execution Fails: Understanding Capital Punishment in America
On September 30, 2026, the state of Tennessee attempted to execute a woman named Christa Pike by lethal injection when something unusual happened: she survived. After being given two doses of the execution drug pentobarbital, the state’s only woman on death row was taken to a hospital, turning a scheduled execution into a medical emergency and a national news story.
Pike, 50, was sentenced to death for the 1995 torture and murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow student at a Knoxville vocational training program. Pike was 18 when the killing occurred. Had the execution been completed, she would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
The Associated Press, which witnessed the attempt, reported that Pike remained responsive after the procedure began, asked officials whether her arm was supposed to feel that way, and later made sounds resembling snoring. Officials briefly closed the viewing curtain minutes after the first dose, but witnesses could still hear her breathing and snoring when they were escorted out more than an hour into the attempt.
By October 2, Pike’s attorneys reported that she was unconscious, in critical condition, and receiving breathing assistance from a ventilator. They alleged that problems with intravenous access caused the drug to enter tissue rather than properly circulate through her veins. Those allegations require investigation and should not be confused with a final medical or judicial finding.
Governor Bill Lee suspended further executions for the remainder of 2026 and ordered an independent review. It was Tennessee's second failed execution this year: in May, the state called off Tony Carruthers's execution after the execution team spent more than an hour unsuccessfully trying to establish IV access. Governor Lee is term-limited and leaves office in January 2027, so whether executions resume in Tennessee will likely fall to his successor. Because Pike's scheduled execution date has passed, any new attempt would also require the Tennessee Supreme Court to set a new date. So, while the suspension pauses executions in the immediate future, it does not abolish Tennessee's death penalty or convert Pike's sentence to life imprisonment.
This case presents an unsettling question: when the government attempts to carry out a death sentence and the prisoner survives, can it try again? Answering that question requires understanding of both capital punishment and the constitutional limits on how it is administered, topics which we will explore in this article.
Capital Punishment in the United States
Capital punishment, commonly called the death penalty, is a criminal sentence authorizing the government to execute a person convicted of a qualifying offense. In modern American practice, it is principally associated with aggravated murder—murder involving circumstances such as multiple victims or the killing of a police officer. Conviction does not automatically mean execution: capital cases involve sentencing proceedings and opportunities for judicial review.
The Supreme Court has held that capital punishment is not inherently unconstitutional. Nevertheless, a lawful death sentence must satisfy constitutional requirements governing both its imposition and its execution.
As of October 2, 2026, 27 states retain the death penalty: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
California, Ohio, Oregon, and Pennsylvania have governor-imposed moratoriums, Tennessee's executions are now paused through the end of 2026, and litigation or practical obstacles can prevent executions elsewhere.
The federal government also authorizes capital punishment for certain federal crimes. Consequently, someone prosecuted federally can face a death sentence even in a state, such as Massachusetts, that does not impose it under state law. State and federal prosecutions operate under separate legal systems.
Execution Methods
The Lethal injection remains the most widely used method, but state laws authorize several alternatives. Drug manufacturers’ unwillingness to supply execution drugs has contributed to states adopting other methods.
The applicable method can depend on the prisoner’s election, the date of the offense or sentence, or another method becoming unavailable. Idaho made firing squad its primary method effective July 1, 2026, with lethal injection as a backup.
Some states have broader backup provisions. Florida and North Carolina, for example, permit other methods under specified circumstances. New Hampshire presents a separate exception: its 2019 repeal left one prisoner under an earlier death sentence, with lethal injection and potentially hanging available under the older law.
Can the Government Try Again?
The Eighth Amendment to the Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, but surviving an execution does not automatically invalidate the sentence.
In Louisiana ex rel. Francis v. Resweber (1947), the Supreme Court considered Willie Francis’s survival of an electric-chair malfunction. By a five-to-four vote, the Court permitted Louisiana to attempt the execution again. The lead opinion distinguished an accidental failure from the deliberate infliction of unnecessary suffering. The Court also rejected Francis's argument that a second attempt would amount to double jeopardy, and Louisiana executed him in May 1947.
That ruling does not mean every failed execution, or every second attempt, is constitutional. In Baze v. Rees (2008), the lead opinion explained that an isolated mishap does not alone establish an Eighth Amendment violation, while recognizing that repeated failed attempts could demonstrate an intolerable risk of harm that officials cannot ignore.
Whether a state may try again after a failed execution is not a hypothetical question. Ohio failed to execute Romell Broom in 2009 after roughly two hours of unsuccessful attempts to find a usable vein. The Ohio Supreme Court held in 2016 that the state could try again, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined review, though Broom died on death row in 2020 before a second attempt. Alabama, after failed lethal-injection attempts in 2022, later executed both Kenneth Smith and Alan Miller using nitrogen hypoxia.
Modern challenges face a demanding standard. Under the framework the Court adopted in Baze and Glossip v. Gross (2015), and reaffirmed in Bucklew v. Precythe (2019), a prisoner challenging an execution method generally must identify a feasible, readily implemented alternative that would significantly reduce a substantial risk of severe pain, and that the state has refused to adopt without a legitimate penological reason. The Court has also held that the Constitution does not guarantee a painless execution.
Applying those principles to Pike, the investigation could matter greatly: what caused the failure, what officials knew beforehand, and whether another attempt would expose her to an unconstitutional risk of suffering. Her survival alone does not settle those questions.
Ultimately, Pike’s case brings an abstract legal debate into the execution chamber and reopens a long-standing debate about the ethics and morality of capital punishment as a whole.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this article does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. All information, content, and materials available in this article are for general informational purposes only. Readers should contact Attorney Jimmy McCormack, Esq. of Lion’s Law for advice regarding their specific legal situation. He can be reached at 617-682-7340 or by email at james@lionslawgroup.com.
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