Christa Pike Execution

Christa Pike's attorneys are calling on Tennessee to commute her death sentence after her failed execution ... saying Pike was actually helping the execution team try to place her IV lines.

Randy Spivey and Stephen Ferrell both urged the state to take another execution attempt off the table Thursday ... arguing Pike had already endured a cruel and traumatic ordeal.

Spivey said Pike remained "kind, cooperative and at peace" as workers struggled to establish access ... even telling them to try higher up toward her shoulder and thanking them when they thought they'd gotten a line.

Christa Pike's botched execution attempt took a serious toll on her ... with her lawyer saying she's in bad shape in the hospital -- but making it clear she's not in a coma.

An attorney for the convicted killer tells TMZ ... "Christa is critically ill but not in a coma as I understand it." He tells us she's still unconscious and unable communicate.

The attorney also adds Christa's execution warrant expired at midnight ... so the Tennessee Supreme Court will have to set a new date before they can try to execute her again.

Christa Pike's ex-boyfriend -- who helped her torture and kill a 19-year-old woman -- is still locked up ... but he's taking steps to change his scenery.

Tadaryl Shipp is currently housed in Tennessee's Northwest Correctional Complex ... according to Department of Corrections records obtained by TMZ.

Shipp -- who had been sentenced to life -- was previously denied parole in Oct. 2025.

However ... Department of Corrections records show that his case will be reviewed again in Oct. 2031.

Christa Pike's botched execution was a total disaster ... according to the mother of the girl Christa murdered in 1995.

May Martinez -- Colleen Slemmer's mom -- told NBC News in a phone interview Thursday ... "It was a mess."

As you know, Christa survived 2 lethal injections Wednesday night in Tennessee during her attempted execution for Colleen's murder.

Nashville reporter Tori Gessner described the execution during a news conference, saying she could hear Pike say ... "My arm feels like it's about to burst open."

The doctor who oversaw Christa Pike's failed execution in Tennessee also presided over another botched attempt back in May ... making him 0-for-2.

Dr. Mark Fowler -- who oversaw the administration of 2 lethal injections to Pike -- supervised the called-off execution of Tony Carruthers on May 21.

The Carruthers execution was stopped in its tracks after medical staff spent more than an hour trying -- and failing -- to insert a needle to establish a backup IV line and central line too ... NBC News reported.

Christa Pike survived Tennessee's attempt to execute her Wednesday night ... and years before the botched lethal injections, she was fighting the state over another part of death row -- decades spent virtually alone in solitary confinement.

In a 2022 federal lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Pike asked to be released from mandatory segregation ... with her attorneys saying she had spent more than 25 years with virtually no meaningful human contact.

Her lawyer wrote Pike's life had been defined by "four concrete walls and bare floor" ... adding, "She is fundamentally alone."

Christa Pike repeatedly pointed out a shooting pain in her arm during her horrifically failed execution attempt ... according to one eyewitness.

Tori Gessner, a reporter for Nashville's WKRN, gave a detailed account of what happened after Pike received the lethal injection, or at least, it was supposed to be lethal.

During a news conference, Gessner revealed Pike's words ... "At one point, she said, 'My arm feels like it's about to burst open.' The curtains close at first, but she was clearly still alive -- she was clearly still breathing and snoring."

Christa Pike is still alive after 2 attempted lethal injections in Tennessee.

Around 8:26 p.m. local time, witnesses said “executioners had injected both syringes of lethal injection chemicals and Pike is still alive and snoring” ... her lawyers said in a federal court filing, according to NBC News.

Pike was scheduled to be put to death Wednesday after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for Tennessee to carry out her execution ... overturning a last-minute stay from a federal appeals court.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has halted the remaining executions this year ... after an attempt to put Christa Pike to death was botched.

In the wake of the failed execution attempts, Lee ordered "a comprehensive, third-party review" to determine what went wrong ... according to AP News.

He added in his statement ... "Carrying out a lawfully imposed sentence is among the state's most serious responsibilities, and the people of Tennessee expect it to be done in a manner that is not only legal and constitutional, but is effective."

Tennessee can move forward with convicted murderer Christa Pike's execution, the Supreme Court has ruled.

On Wednesday, the court decided to lift the stay of execution that had been ordered just an hour before her lethal injection. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.

Pike's lawyers were trying to get her sentence changed to life in prison, arguing that her attorneys had failed to present her history of sexual abuse and mental health conditions. That's why her execution was paused just an hour before her scheduled lethal injection.

Christa Pike is a cold-blooded murderer who should be put to death ... at least according to prosecutors fighting her request to pump the brakes on her scheduled execution.

According to court docs, obtained by TMZ, the feds are asking the court to deny Christa's recent request to send her case to another court for further proceedings about whether she received ineffective assistance of counsel at her sentencing … but prosecutors insist this is just another effort to relitigate a previously rejected claim.

In their filing, the prosecutors make their position clear, writing, "On January 12, 1995, Christa Gail Pike beat, tortured, and killed Colleen Slemmer because Pike 'just felt mean that day.'"

They go on ... "Pike cut Colleen's throat six times, struck her in the back with a meat cleaver, and crushed her skull with a piece of asphalt."

Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike was supposed to be executed this morning ... but her execution was paused just an hour before her scheduled lethal injection.

According to a court notice obtained by PEOPLE, Pike was granted a stay "until further order" by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

The court reportedly said it needed time to consider Pike's latest filing, where her attorneys claim the state had reversed its position that she'd fabricated her claims of sexual abuse.

A Tennessee Death Row inmate says she feels a true connection with Lindsay Clancy, saying they share "uniquely female issues" as she faces state execution for her crimes this week.

Christa Pike, 48, will be executed by lethal injection Wednesday at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville for the brutal 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Recently, Pike sat down for a wide-ranging interview with The Times during which she made the Clancy comparison.

She told the reporter ... “I feel a kinship with Lindsay. We are both females who got into trouble because of uniquely female issues. One thing is different, however, is that times have changed a lot on awareness of women’s issues since I was put on trial."

Christa Pike's murder of Colleen Slemmer back in the 1990s shocked citizens of Tennessee, where Pike has remained on death row ever since she was convicted of the Slemmer's killing.

Pike won't be on death row for much longer -- because she was just given a date for her execution.

We're going to take a look into the murderer's background and see what's happened in the years since she committed her heinous crime.

Christa apparently experienced a difficult upbringing, which allegedly included instances of both physical and sexual abuse, according to USA Today.

The convicted murderer later described herself as "mentally ill," especially around the time of the killing, in a letter to The Tennessean.

Christa's attorneys later said she'd been diagnosed with "bipolar and post-traumatic stress disorders," although the conditions weren't discovered until after she'd been convicted of murdering Slemmer.

Her attorneys, who also said she'd been subject to neglect as a child, claimed she'd later developed "deep remorse" for her actions.

Christa, who was just 18 years old at the time of the crime, initially met Slemmer through their participation in the Knoxville Job Corps, and she eventually became fearful of Slemmer trying to steal her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp.

Slemmer was murdered on January 12, 1995, when Christa, Shipp, and their friend Shadolla Peterson lured her into a wooded area near the Corps center and began attacking her, killing her. Christa carved pentagrams into her victim's forehead and chest in the attack.

The murderer also kept a fragment of her victim's skull, and she showed it off to fellow students.

She was eventually arrested, and she was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1996. Tadaryl Shipp was also convicted of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison ... while Peterson, who apparently served as a lookout, received probation after testifying against Christa.

Christa's legal team has made several appeals, and they've argued she would not receive the same sentence if she were tried today, according to CBS News.

Her attorneys' filings have apparently noted evidence of their client's various issues -- including PTSD and congenital brain damage -- wasn't included at her trial.

However, Christa -- who's currently the only female inmate on death row in Tennessee -- has since been given an execution date of September 30, 2026.

The state of Tennessee has officially set a date for Christa Pike's execution -- and if it goes through, she'll become the first woman executed in the state in more than 200 years.

The state's Supreme Court has scheduled the execution for September 30, 2026, USA Today reports.

Pike killed Colleen Slemmer, whom she'd originally met through a career-training program, after she began suspecting Colleen would try and steal her boyfriend.

Pike, as well as her boyfriend and another friend, lured Colleen into a wooded area near the Knoxville Job Corps center, where the victim was attacked and eventually killed. Pike reportedly bragged about the incident, during which she carved pentagrams into Colleen's forehead and chest.

Pike and her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, were both convicted of first-degree murder, while her friend, Shadolla Peterson, testified against her and ended up sentenced to probation. Shipp was sentenced to life in prison ... he's set to become eligible for parole next month.

Pike has since accepted responsibility for her actions, and her attorneys have claimed her troubled upbringing -- which allegedly included physical and sexual abuse -- would have earned her a life sentence had she been tried today.

Pike's attorneys also cited the Death Penalty Information Center ... only three women have ever been executed in the state of Tennessee, the most recent in 1819.