eNewspaper | Crosswords | Horoscopes

This is America

Stories of justice and action across America

Fri Oct 2 2026

Tennessee's plan execute a woman for the first time in more than 200 years failed spectacularly in an incident that could revive a national debate about the death penalty.

Hello again, This is America readers, this is Phillip M. Bailey, chief political correspondent with USA TODAY.

50-year-old Christa Pike was scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection this week for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, who she lured into the woods before torturing and killing her friend. After years of isolation in prison Pike, who was age 18 at the time of the crime, expressed regret after initially saying she had no remorse.

But in a disturbing episode the two syringes of pentobarbital -- a sedative typically used to treat seizure -- did not work. Attorneys for Pike, who survived, describe her as being subjected to "unnecessary agony" during the process.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, said the situation was "deeply disturbing" and "shouldn't have happened," as criticism mounts. He has ordered an investigation into what went wrong and has postponed the state's one remaining execution scheduled for this year.

As the USA TODAY Network's Vivian Jones reports, Lee is under scrutiny for hiring Correction Department Commissioner Frank Strada in January 2023 from the Arizona Department of Corrections, where he also oversaw botched executions.

"The incompetence of the Tennessee DOC sets the bar at the lowest level," Abraham Bonowitz, co-founder of Death Penalty Action, said in a statement. "There are no other words. This is an outrage. How do they sleep at night?"

Death row inmate Christa Pike enters criminal court in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Dec. 4, 2007. In 1995, then 18-year-old Pike, her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, then 17, and another friend lured 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer to the woods in Knoxville, where Shipp and Pike tortured and killed her. Prosecutors said Pike suspected Slemmer was interested in Shipp.

J. Miles Cary/Knoxville News Sentinel/USA TODAY Network

For more on Pike's botched execution, check out USA TODAY's coverage:

Too traumatized to die? Women rally to halt execution of rape survivor.

Tennessee governor orders investigation into failed Christa Pike execution: Media witnesses who were in a death chamber viewing room reported that Pike talked about experiencing pain during the process, saying: "My arm feels like it's about to burst open."Another 'disturbing' botched execution. Why does this keep happening?

Can the U.S. detain undocumented immigrants indefinitely?

The Supreme Court is taking up a case that will have major ramifications on U.S. immigration policy and impact millions of people who could be subject to mandatory detention.

In an Oct. 1 announcement, the high court said it will review a case about whether the Trump administration can detain undocumented immigrants, even those without criminal records, under a 1996 law mostly used for people picked up at or near the border.

As USA TODAY's Maureen Groppe reports, most lower federal courts have ruled the government must give those individuals a chance to seek bond. They are often released in the cities and towns where they're apprehended after doing so, for instance.

But supporters of the president's aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration say that too many have used the process to evade deportation, even if they have long-pending citizenship applications or have U.S.-born children.

‘I was brutalized’: Inside the Cornell rape case timeline

A timeline of the Cornell rape allegations, from the 2024 investigation and lawsuit to the district attorney’s decision to reopen the criminal inquiry.

READ MORE