The Man Who Wrote Death Penalty Law Says Christa Pike's Botched Execution Was "Almost Inevitable"
Criminally ObsessedShow Notes
On September 30, 2026 in Tennessee, Christa Pike survived a botched execution by lethal injection for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer after living through two supposedly lethal doses of pentobarbital. Prison staff called an ambulance to take her to a hospital where she is now reportedly awake and talking and moving around her room. However, she has pneumonia, a blood clot, and is unable to swallow or move her arms, which are still swollen.
In this episode of Criminally Obsessed, investigative reporter Anne Emerson speaks with David Raybin, a Tennessee criminal defense attorney and former assistant state attorney general who drafted the state's modern death penalty statute in the 1970s.
Raybin says he wasn't surprised by what happened. He argues the state ignored recommendations made after an earlier botched execution, and he calls the "we followed the protocol" defense "a damning indictment" of the system. He explains why he believes what Pike endured raises serious Eighth Amendment questions, and whether the state can legally try again. He also breaks down the judge's sweeping order to preserve all evidence from the execution, why he says the state is "drawing the blinds" on the process, and why he calls the death penalty "a luxury" Tennessee isn't willing to pay for.
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