Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike survives lethal injection, then speaks publicly
The gist
Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike survived two rounds of pentobarbital in her Sept. 30 execution attempt.
Her case has renewed scrutiny of the state's lethal injection protocol.
How it unfolded
- Jan 1995Colleen Slemmer, 19, a classmate of Christa Pike in a Knoxville Job Corps program, was tortured, slashed and bludgeoned to death in the woods; Pike, then 18, saw her as a romantic rival and took part with two others.
- Mar 25, 1996Forensic anthropologist Dr. Murray Marks testified about the wounds to Slemmer's skull at Pike's murder trial.
- after trialPike was sentenced to death; a co-defendant, Shipp, received life with parole because he was underage and not eligible for the death penalty.