Christa Pike survived a lethal injection attempt – the latest person to endure a failed execution

Christa Pike survived a lethal injection attempt in Tennessee on Sept. 30, 2026, after receiving two full doses of pentobarbital, prompting Gov. Bill Lee to temporarily suspend executions in the state. She is not the state's first near-miss: Tony Carruthers survived an execution attempt in May 2026 when staff could not secure a required backup IV line, and Lee granted him a one-year reprieve without explanation.

The piece surveys the longer history of botched executions, from a broken hanging rope in 1833 Pennsylvania to a failed 1946 electrocution of 16-year-old Willie Francis in Louisiana, whose case the Supreme Court used to rule that an accidental failure does not bar a second attempt. Since 2009, six more people have survived failed lethal injections, with outcomes ranging from death on death row to a second, successful execution.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.