Tennessee's failed execution of Christa Pike renews concerns about Nevada's untested lethal injection drug plan

What happened

The failed execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee has become a frequent topic on Nevada's death row at High Desert State Prison, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. One prisoner described it as "the talk of the town." Some legal experts and death row inmates told the newspaper they worry that a Nevada execution could also go wrong.

On Sept. 30, Pike, 50, survived two doses of pentobarbital meant to be fatal and was reportedly left unconscious on a ventilator, according to the Review-Journal. Her attorneys say she has since regained consciousness. Experts have suggested a faulty IV line may have caused the drug to collect in her tissue instead of entering her bloodstream. Our earlier coverage explains how Pike returned to prison after the botched execution.

Pedro Rodriguez, 47, who was sentenced to die in 1999 for his role in a robbery and fatal shooting in Sparks, told the newspaper: "It scares me to death, because then I'm going to end up in a situation like this young lady."

Where Nevada's execution push stands

Three warrant requests announced

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said in April that his office would seek execution warrants for Donald Sherman, Zane Floyd and Sterling Atkins. The requests for Sherman and Floyd are on hold pending rulings from the Nevada Supreme Court, and prosecutors have not requested a warrant for Atkins. The district attorney's office declined to comment, and the attorney general's office deferred to prison officials.

No executions scheduled, and no usable drugs

"The NDOC does not have any executions scheduled at this time," prisons spokesperson Teri Vance told the Review-Journal, adding that drug protocols are set once executions are scheduled. In a May status report, attorneys for the prison system acknowledged the state had none of the drugs called for in its current protocol in unexpired form, saying previously obtained drugs had expired.

Concerns about an untested drug mix

What the 2021 protocol calls for

Under a 2021 protocol filed in ongoing litigation, Nevada would use one of two cocktails built around fentanyl or alfentanil, ketamine, and potassium chloride or potassium acetate, with one version also including cisatracurium. Attorneys for the prison system acknowledged the mix has never been tried. In the May report, both sides said that as far as they knew, fentanyl had been used in an execution only once, in Nebraska in 2018.

"It's human experimentation," former public defender Scott Coffee told the Review-Journal. Retired Nevada Supreme Court Justice Michael Cherry, who opposes the death penalty, said: "I hate to be the state that makes the precedent to see if it works or not."

Defense and state arguments

In a 2022 brief, Floyd's attorneys, Assistant Federal Public Defenders David Anthony and Brad Levenson, argued the protocol risked "unconstitutional harm," saying fentanyl and alfentanil could not reliably block awareness. They also said the proposed ketamine dose was much larger than an anesthesiologist would normally use. Chief Deputy Attorney General D. Randall Gilmer countered in a filing that "the Protocol was specifically designed to limit pain and suffering."

Nevada's history with executions

Nevada has used lethal injection since executing Carroll Edward Cole in 1985, the Review-Journal reported. Eleven of the 12 inmates executed since the state reinstated capital punishment in 1977 were so-called volunteers who gave up their appeals. The last execution, of Daryl Mack, took place in April 2006, and the state called off Scott Dozier's execution in 2018 after drug companies objected to the use of their products.

According to Review-Journal archives, an assistant federal public defender said in 2006 that staff took 25 minutes to find a vein before the 1998 execution of Roderick Abeyta.

Differing views on what Pike's case means

Former Clark County District Attorney David Roger told the newspaper the Pike case should not give Nevada pause. If reports of an IV problem are accurate, he said, the focus should be on having skilled staff insert the lines rather than on the drugs. Clark County Chief Deputy Public Defender Ryan Bashor said he believes the case will reinvigorate debate over the death penalty. Gallup polling cited by the Review-Journal found 52 percent of Americans supported capital punishment for murder in 2025, down from 80 percent in 1994.

What to watch next

• Nevada Supreme Court rulings on the paused warrant requests for Donald Sherman and Zane Floyd.
• Whether prosecutors file the announced warrant request for Sterling Atkins, which has not been filed.
• Ongoing federal litigation over Nevada's execution protocol, where dueling experts have testified.
• Which drugs the state chooses, since prison officials say protocols are set only once an execution is scheduled.