Anesthesiologist who advised Christa Pike’s defense challenges lethal injection procedure
Dr. Joel Zivot, an anesthesiologist who advised Christa Pike’s attorneys, joins Bill Hemmer to examine the legal consequences of Tennessee’s botched execution attempt. A judge has ordered state officials to preserve evidence from the failed procedure, while Zivot details concerns about the lethal injection drugs used. Pike remains on death row.
Tennessee officials are asking a judge to keep the state’s lethal injection drug supplier confidential, arguing that executions could be suspended if the vendor is identified and targeted with retaliation following Christa Pike’s botched execution.
Pike was scheduled to die on Sept. 30 after the Supreme Court lifted a last-minute stay. She was convicted of killing 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville and sentenced to death.
The execution was expected to make Pike the first woman put to death in Tennessee in more than 200 years. Instead, she survived after two doses of the lethal injection drug pentobarbital failed to kill her.
In a motion filed Friday in Davidson County Chancery Court, a Tennessee Department of Correction employee said suppliers have become increasingly wary. The employee, who oversees the procurement of the state’s pentobarbital, described the concerns surrounding the drug’s distribution.
Christa Gail Pike was scheduled to be executed on Sept. 30, 2026. (Tennessee Department of Correction via AP)
“Suppliers have said they fear threats, harassment and boycotts because they chose to provide correctional departments with drugs used in lawful executions,” the employee wrote.
The state filed the motion after Chancellor I’Ashea Myles issued an Oct. 10 order requiring officials to preserve all physical evidence connected to the failed execution, including needles, drug vials and any “residual pentobarbital.”
The unnamed employee warned that labels on the preserved items could reveal the supplier’s identity. According to the filing, the vendor has “made it clear” that it would stop working with Tennessee if its identity became public.
MORE ON THIS: Helicopter Makes Emergency Landing in New Jersey as Photos Show Severely Damaged Tail Section
Christa Gail Pike appears remotely from Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation during a hearing in Knox County Criminal Court in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Aug. 11, 2026. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
The employee said losing the supplier could halt executions in Tennessee and that finding another company willing to provide the drug would be difficult.
“If Pike’s attorneys or their experts are permitted to examine the labels on pentobarbital vials or handle the vials, TDOC would likely lose access to pentobarbital and be unable to conduct executions with it,” the employee wrote. “Based on my experience, Tennessee would probably struggle to find another supplier willing to provide pentobarbital for executions.”
Myles has not yet ruled on the request.
Convicted killer Christa Gail Pike listens to proceedings in April 2008 at Knox County Criminal Court as she sought a new trial in the 1995 killing of fellow Job Corps student Colleen Slemmer. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
The filing came after a separate request in late October asking a federal court to prevent prison officials from returning Pike to her housing unit. Her attorneys argued that doing so would put her life at risk.
Christa Gail Pike is shown during her trial for Colleen A. Slemmer’s murder on March 18, 1996, in Knox County Criminal Court. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
“This pod houses inmates with extensive assault records and serious disciplinary histories,” the motion states. “During my two years in this pod, I witnessed multiple assaults by close-custody inmates against other inmates and guards, several people experiencing acute psychological breakdowns, and an environment presenting significant danger.”
The Tennessee Department of Correction declined to comment.