Her lawyers are seeking to have her death sentence commuted, arguing that the failed execution was punishment enough. Gov. Bill Lee halted all scheduled executions for the rest of 2026 and ordered an independent review after the failure, Tennessee’s second this year. Prisons chief Frank Strada resigned and will leave his post this month.
Pike, 50, was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of her classmate, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, when Pike was 18. The execution attempt proceeded after the US Supreme Court overturned an appeals court stay issued to review whether her history of childhood sexual abuse had been properly considered at sentencing.