Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) called for Tennessee to bring back the electric chair for capital punishment after the botched lethal injection of notorious murderer Christa Pike.
Pike was convicted in 1996 for brutally killing and defacing the body of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Slated to be executed at a Nashville prison on Wednesday, Pike survived two rounds of lethal injections and was taken to a hospital for treatment. She would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in over 200 years.
Blackburn won the Republican nomination for Tennessee governor in August and is expected to easily win in November. If elected, Blackburn promised to bring back the electric chair as the primary form of capital punishment.
“This situation is tragic. Christa Pike should have been executed long ago. Now, this botched process is extending the pain for the family of Colleen Slemmer,” Blackburn said on Thursday. “While there should be a thorough review of what happened and why the process failed, the answer is simple: bring back the electric chair and deliver justice for these victims swiftly. As your governor, I will do just that.”
Tennessee last used the electric chair for an execution in 2020, six years after the governor approved its use in situations where lethal injection was not possible. During the early 20th century, the electric chair was widely used across the state for executions. The peak came in the 1930s when 47 inmates were executed by the chair.
Tennessee prison officials also botched a lethal injection execution for murderer Tony Carruthers in May 2026. After doctors failed to carry out the protocol, Governor Bill Lee gave Carruthers a one-year reprieve until May 2027.
Lee on Wednesday ordered a pause on all statewide executions until the end of the year and directed an independent review of what went wrong with the Pike execution.
“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,” he said.
Pike committed the murder as an 18-year-old attending the Knoxville Job Corps when she invited 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer into the woods with her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp. Pike cut Slemmer’s throat, struck her with a meat cleaver and a piece of asphalt before they carved a pentagram into her forehead and chest, according to court documents. Pike also kept a piece of Slemmer’s skull.
The case has swung back and forth this week after a flurry of court filings. Pike’s legal team argued she should not be given the death penalty because of her experience with horrific sexual assault as a toddler and young girl.
Lee denied that request and directed the execution to proceed as scheduled, but a federal appeals court blocked it an hour before it was slated to take place on Wednesday morning. The Supreme Court cleared the way in a 6-3 decision after an appeal from Tennessee.
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