Christa Pike’s attorneys are urging Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to commute her death sentence to life in prison after she survived a botched lethal injection last week.

Pike remains critically ill in a hospital on a ventilator, and her lawyers say it is unclear whether she will regain consciousness as doctors work to remove the lethal drug from her system. 

The execution involved two doses of pentobarbital, and her attorneys say medical staff struggled to establish IV access despite previous warnings about difficulties with her veins. 

Tennessee has halted its remaining executions for 2026 and ordered an independent review, while the state’s corrections commissioner is stepping down following the failed execution, CBS News has reported.

Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of her former classmate, Colleen Slemmer, and her lawyers now argue that the botched execution should end the possibility of another attempt.