GB News ground to a halt to issue a breaking news update about death row killer Christa Pike (Image: Tennessee Department of Correction/AFP via Getty Images)
GB News came to an unexpected halt minutes into their late-night programme as they issued an urgent breaking news update on prisoner Christa Pike. The 50-year-old death row killer was sentenced to death by lethal injection on September 30, 2026, for the torture and murder of her 19-year-old classmate, Colleen Slemmer, in Knoxville, Tennessee, back in 1995. Last week, the prisoner survived her second botched execution, including two lethal injections, and woke up after a week under critical medical care. Her lawyers revealed on Tuesday (October 6) that she is now conscious and able to speak, describing her recovery as “medically unprecedented”.
They said in a statement: “Against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care. Despite the severe damage she endured to her arms, she is still handcuffed and shackled to the bed. Her recovery is medically unprecedented. Her prognosis remains unclear, but at a minimum, we expect a long recovery.”
Host Nana Akua broke the story on the 24-hour news channel before welcoming US lawyer Deborah J. Blum onto the show to react to the news that the prisoner has survived a second execution. The legal expert was quick to share other cases in which death by lethal injection didn’t work.
She told the presenter: “It’s quite shocking, and it’s a really terrible thing that happened here. Another man who was being executed in May also survived his execution attempt in Tennessee. So now, there’s a large investigation into what is going on.
“Her execution is put on pause for the rest of the year while they’re figuring out what they’re going to do. She does have strong claims to fight against this execution; she could argue the Eighth Amendment against cruel and unusual punishment, although the Supreme Court case law is not favourable to her.
“They have to have ordered a separate execution to go forward, but what we’ve found out is that her own anaesthesiologist, whom her defence team brought on, warned that this could happen to her, and that is a huge reason to support her application to not be executed.”
‘It is a really terrible thing.’Lawyer Deborah J.Blum reacts to prisoner Christa Pike surviving a second execution. https://t.co/Rlf6v8dM8G
— GB News (@GBNEWS) October 7, 2026
Pike’s attorneys are set to go to court on Wednesday (October 7) as they seek to learn more about what happened in the failed lethal injection. They are seeking a court order requiring the Tennessee Department of Corrections to preserve evidence, including drug lot numbers, records, and other information from the September 30 attempted execution.
Frank Strada, commissioner of Tennessee’s Department of Correction, has announced he will step down this month while an independent review determines what happened, state governor Bill Lee said on Saturday (October 3). Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles scheduled a Wednesday morning status conference in the case.
Pike’s attorneys said in their Tuesday statement (October 6) that they continue to ask outgoing Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to commute Pike’s sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee halted further executions following Pike’s hospitalisation and ordered a “comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred.” U.S Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the state’s Republican candidate to replace him, called on the state to explore other methods of execution to ensure it can continue carrying out capital punishment.
Tadaryl Shipp, Pike’s former boyfriend who was also convicted of killing Ms Slemmer, received a life sentence with the possibility of parole because of his age. He was 17 when the crime was committed.
