Death row inmate Christa Pike surviving her execution made headlines around the world.
But here’s the thing: Tennessee had already tried—and failed—to execute another death row inmate just months earlier.
Tony Von Carruthers was scheduled to die by lethal injection on May 21 for the 1994 murders of Marcellos Anderson, Frederick Tucker and Tucker’s mother, Delois Anderson.
He never made it to the lethal drugs.
Medical personnel successfully placed the primary IV required under Tennessee’s execution protocol, but ran into trouble when attempting to find a suitable vein for the backup.
They tried Carruthers’ other arm, left hand and left foot before turning to a central line, which involves placing a catheter into a large vein.
That didn’t work either.
After more than an hour of attempts, Carruthers was still very much alive—and his execution was called off.
His attorney, Maria DeLiberato, who witnessed the ordeal inside the execution chamber, told reporters Carruthers was “wincing and groaning” during the attempts and described seeing blood and multiple puncture wounds.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee subsequently granted Carruthers a one-year reprieve, meaning the state couldn’t try again until at least May 2027.
Fast-forward a little more than four months.
Pike entered the execution chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on Sept. 30. This time, Tennessee made it past the IV process.
Officials administered two doses of pentobarbital.
Pike didn’t die.
She continued breathing and was eventually transported from the prison by ambulance. After spending days hospitalized, Pike recovered enough to return to prison.
There was another connection between the two attempts.
Dr. Mark Fowler, who was involved in trying to establish IV access during Carruthers’ execution, confirmed before Pike’s scheduled execution that he would also serve as the physician overseeing hers.
Following Pike’s failed execution, Lee halted Tennessee’s remaining execution scheduled for 2026 and ordered a third-party investigation into what went wrong.
So, within a span of a little more than four months, Tennessee entered the execution chamber twice expecting an inmate to die.
Both came out alive, adding new fuel to the long-running debate over capital punishment and how executions are carried out in the U.S.
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