Before the attempted execution that ended in failure, Christa Pike had the opportunity to choose a last meal. Instead, she asked that the 20 dollars set aside for that meal be used to buy pizza for homeless people in Nashville. 🍕
The request came just hours before Tennessee attempted to execute Pike by lethal injection on September 30, 2026. According to reports citing The New York Times, Pike specifically requested that the money go to people experiencing homelessness.
Hours later, the execution procedure could not be completed. Pike received two doses of pentobarbital, but she continued to show vital signs and was eventually taken to a hospital, where she remained unconscious and connected to a ventilator.
Pike, now 50 years old, was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. After nearly three decades on death row, her execution was scheduled for September 30.
The request for pizza is one of the details that have emerged after the failed procedure, but it does not change the gravity of the crime for which she was convicted or the pain of Colleen’s family, who have been waiting for justice for more than 30 years. What do you think?
