CBC Lite Sections News • World Tennessee may try to execute Christa Pike again. The state could face legal hurdles AnalysisMark Gollom | CBC News | Posted: October 25, 2026 8:00 AM | Last Updated: 2 hours ago 'Uncharted territory about what's going to happen next', says legal expert Image | TENNESSEE-EXECUTION/ Caption: As Christa Pike continues to recover following her botched execution by the state of Tennessee earlier this month, it remains unclear whether another attempt will be made to execute the convicted murderer. (via REUTERS) (BUTTON) Load image Open image in new tab As Christa Pike continues to recover following her botched execution by the state of Tennessee earlier this month, it remains unclear whether another attempt will be made to execute the convicted murderer. But the state could face some constitutional hurdles if it tries again, legal experts say. Pike's mental capacity and competency could also be a significant factor on whether a second execution is carried out. "We're really in uncharted territory about what's going to happen next," said Emily Hughes, a law professor and expert in death penalty cases at the University of Iowa. "The different avenues are complex and there's a lot of different paths it could go down." Pike, 50, survived two doses of pentobarbital as executioners attempted to put her to death by lethal injection for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer. * Emergency medical help for Christa Pike was delayed due to confusion, 911 tapes reveal The execution attempt left Pike unconscious and on a ventilator, with severe arm injuries. She was hospitalized but has since returned to the prison where she was serving her sentence. Seven people have survived failed lethal injection attempts when execution staff were unable to establish IV lines, according to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPI). Pike is the first person to survive after being injected with lethal doses of execution drugs. Image | Christa Pike Caption: Death row inmate Christa Pike enters a Knox County Criminal Court in December 2007, in Knoxville, Tenn. (J. Miles Cary/Knoxville News Sentinel/USA Today/Reuters) (BUTTON) Load image Open image in new tab Pike was 18 in January 1995 when she, 17-year-old boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp and a third companion lured Slemmer, a classmate at their Knoxville Job Corps vocational centre, into a wooded area where they tortured and killed her. The slaying involved the perpetrators carving the shape of a pentagram in the victim's chest and taking a chunk of her skull as a souvenir. Following the unsuccessful execution attempt, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee halted further executions for the remainder of the year and ordered a comprehensive third-party review to determine exactly what occurred. Meanwhile, a Tennessee judge has ordered that all evidence from the attempted execution be preserved so a full investigation can take place. Here's a look at some of the legal issues that could be raised by another attempt to execute Pike. * Christa Pike discharged from hospital after surviving execution attempt, attorney says Pike's cognitive state Pike's current cognitive state is unclear. Her lawyers said on Oct. 7 that she was talking but experiencing problems with concentration and memory, and that it could "take months to fully understand whether she sustained lasting cognitive injuries." Her competency would be a factor in whether the state attempts another execution. WATCH | Botched 911 call for Christa Pike: Media Video | About That : Caption: Andrew Chang breaks down audio of 911 dispatch calls following the failed execution of Christa Pike, revealing how confusion among first responders and Tennessee prison officials delayed emergency care. Images provided by The Canadian Press, Reuters, Adobe Stock and Getty Images Open full embed in new tab Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage than loading CBC Lite story pages. Fordham University law professor Deborah Denno, an expert on capital punishment, said the U.S. Supreme Court has prohibited the execution of individuals with certain intellectual disabilities. "We don't exactly know, and maybe her attorneys still don't really know, what her intellectual capacity is," Denno said. For example, the state couldn't execute someone who has consistently tested below an IQ of 70 and who can't perform daily functions such as taking public transportation, counting change and taking care of themselves, Denno said. * Christa Pike on ventilator after surviving Tennessee execution attempt, lawyer says The court has also ruled that people can't be executed if they don't understand what they did to be put in prison. "The test there would be whether she's aware of and understands what the punishment is for," Hughes said. Governor intervention While Lee has placed a stay on executions for the rest of the year, Pike's fate could ultimately be determined by his successor. Image | Tennessee State of the State Caption: Following the unsuccessful execution attempt on Pike, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee halted further executions for the remainder of the year. (George Walker IV/The Associated Press) (BUTTON) Load image Open image in new tab Two candidates are currently vying to become governor of Tennessee as Lee's term ends on Jan. 16, 2027. It's possible that Lee could commute Pike's sentence to life imprisonment before leaving office. But he denied a clemency request from Pike last month and has never commuted the death penalty sentence of anyone in Tennessee slated to be executed, according to DPI. One of the candidates seeking to replace Lee, Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn, suggested Pike should now face the electric chair, something she said she would bring back as a method of execution if elected governor. Democratic candidate and city councillor Jerri Green, however, said she opposes the death penalty and would impose a moratorium if elected. Cruel and unusual punishment, double jeopardy One argument that Pike's attorneys could make, legal observers say, is that another execution attempt would constitute double jeopardy under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits someone from being punished twice for the same offence. "Given that she has already been subject to lethal injection, she has been punished, even though she didn't die," said Hughes, who also runs death penalty training courses for lawyers. Denno agreed that that the argument is "a strong one in her case." "They get one bite at the apple at punishing you, and they just can't keep on [trying to execute] you until you die." WATCH | Pike's lawyers demand answers: Media Video | The National : Caption: Lawyers for convicted murderer Christa Pike are pushing for answers and transparency after she survived several lethal injection attempts last week. A Tennessee judge also ordered the court to preserve all evidence connected to the botched execution. Open full embed in new tab Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage than loading CBC Lite story pages. But the state could argue that the punishment was death and Pike remains alive, meaning another attempt would not constitute double jeopardy, Hughes said. Pike's lawyers could also argue that another attempt would violate the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Denno said one standard under the Eight Amendment is whether the method of execution creates a substantial risk of severe pain. "Well, we've already seen that, right? I mean, in her case, we have tons of evidence." Hughes said the defence could argue that if Pike endured cruel and unusual punishment during the first attempt, using the same method risks subjecting her to it again. "If the method itself is so unsure, so unreliable, then maybe that's indicating that our system of death penalty is broken, and in that regard, we need to either pause or stop," she said. Image | Tennessee Execution Caption: May Martinez, left, mother of murder victim Colleen Slemmer, walks out of Riverbend Maximum Security Institution during a stay of the planned execution of Pike, in September, in Nashville, Tenn. (George Walker IV/The Associated Press) (BUTTON) Load image Open image in new tab But Hughes said the state could counter that mistakes in previous execution attempts have not necessarily prevented states from trying again. Hughes pointed to the case of 17-year-old Willie Francis, who survived a 1946 execution attempt in Louisiana when the electric chair malfunctioned. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the state could try again and that doing so would not violate the Fifth or Eighth amendments, noting: "Accidents happen for which no man is to blame." However, Hughes said the defence could argue that U.S. standards have evolved since that ruling. "The legal argument is that evolving standards of decency are something that the court should take into consideration," she said. "And under evolving standards of decency, we should not subject somebody to this again." More Stories Like This The related links below are generated automatically based on the story you’ve just read. Loading... CBC Lite is a low-bandwidth website. To see what's new, check out our release notes. For high quality images, media, comments, and other additional features visit the full version of this story. 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