TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Azya Thornton on May 7, 2026

On Wednesday, Chancellor I’Ashea Myles transferred Christa Pike’s legal challenge to Tennessee’s revised lethal injection protocol from Davidson County Chancery Court to the Tennessee Supreme Court, according to the Nashville Banner newsletter. Pike, the only woman currently on death row in the state, argues that the protocol is unconstitutional because it violates her “unique medical conditions.” The state sought to dismiss the case, but Myles ordered it transferred to the high court due to a recent amended rule requiring “collateral litigation” related to the “method or timing” of an execution to be filed with the court. That amendment followed a 2025 ruling in which the high court overturned a Davidson County Chancery Court ruling related to Byron Black’s execution. Pike is on death row for a murder she committed in 1996 when she was 18. Her execution is scheduled for Sept. 30.