Florida execution set for Wednesday as Tennessee reviews failed lethal injection

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) – A Tennessee woman who survived an attempt to execute her by lethal injection is out of the hospital and back in prison.

Attorneys for 50-year-old Krista Pike said she has returned to the women’s prison, where she has been held for about 30 years. Pike was hospitalized after Tennessee attempted to execute her September 30th for the 1995 murder of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer.

Pike received two doses of the execution drug but survived. Her attorneys said she was on a ventilator and they did not expect her to live, but she woke up and was able to talk and walk with assistance.

Tennessee has not said what went wrong in the case. The governor has since postponed the state’s other scheduled execution this year and ordered a review of the execution process.

James Robertson, 63, is set to be executed by lethal injection at noon Wednesday at Florida State Prison.

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Robertson was convicted of the 2008 murder of his cellmate, Frank Hart, at the Charlotte Correctional Institution. Prosecutors said Robertson strangled Hart using socks that he had tied together. Investigators said Robertson confessed to the crime, saying he committed it because he was tired of prison life.

If the execution goes forward, Robertson will become the 17th inmate executed in Florida in 2026. His execution is the first in Florida since Pike survived Tennessee’s attempt to execute her on September 30th.

Another inmate, 74-year-old William Lee Thompson, was set to be executed Wednesday as well. Thompson was convicted in the 1976 kidnapping, rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman in North Miami Beach.

Gov. DeSantis signed Thompson’s latest death warrant in September, less than a week before his assigned execution date. DeSantis withdrew the death warrant on Thursday, October 8th.

Thompson’s attorney said he has severe dementia and heart failure and does not understand that he faces execution. The governor ordered a psychiatric evaluation, but state officials have not released the findings or explained the decision.