Christa Pike survives botched execution as Tennessee governor orders review
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has ordered an independent investigation after death row inmate Christa Pike survived two lethal-injection attempts and was left in critical condition. Criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Josh Ritter joined Fox & Friends Weekend to discuss the legal consequences of the failed execution.
A Florida inmate who said he killed his cellmate specifically to receive a death sentence was executed Tuesday.
James Robertson, 63, died at Florida State Prison after being administered a three-drug lethal injection. Officials pronounced him dead roughly 10 minutes later.
Robertson declined to make a formal final statement when asked whether he had any last words.
“Nah, I’m straight,” he replied.
James Robertson, who said he killed his cellmate in an effort to receive a death sentence, was executed Tuesday. (Florida Department of Corrections)
The execution came two weeks after a botched attempt in Tennessee involving Christa Pike, who survived two doses of pentobarbital before being taken to a hospital. Pike has since been discharged and returned to prison.
“Florida has a sound lethal injection process and protocol,” Jordan Kirkland, a spokesperson for the state Department of Corrections, said at a news conference before Robertson’s execution.
Kirkland said he could not comment on Tennessee’s procedures but insisted Florida would ensure the execution was carried out in a “humane and dignified” manner.
According to the Florida Department of Corrections, the state’s lethal-injection protocol uses a sedative, a paralytic and a third drug intended to stop the inmate’s heart.
Robertson pleaded guilty to first-degree murder after strangling his sleeping cellmate, Frank Hart, in 2008. He waived his appeals and told investigators he committed the killing because he wanted a death sentence rather than spending the rest of his life in prison.
Hart was killed eight days before he was scheduled for release, his daughter, Rebecca Hart, said. She stressed that her father’s life and identity extended far beyond Robertson’s account of the crime.
“When someone you love is taken from you in such a violent way, the world keeps moving, even when a part of yours feels like it has stopped,” she told reporters outside the prison. “Other people go on with their lives, but you carry your loss into every tomorrow.”
Hart was imprisoned in 2003 after being convicted of sexual battery.
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James Robertson, 63, was pronounced dead after receiving a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison. (AP Photo/Curt Anderson, file)
Robertson first entered prison at age 17 in 1980 after being convicted of burglary and assault. Later convictions for escape, battery and weapons offenses lengthened his incarceration.
Florida had initially planned to execute two inmates Tuesday. However, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis withdrew a death warrant last week for William Lee Thompson, 74, who was sentenced to death for his role in the 1976 kidnapping and killing of 23-year-old Sally Ivester. Thompson was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual battery in connection with Ivester’s death.
DeSantis did not explain his decision. He had temporarily halted Thompson’s execution the previous month while awaiting a psychiatric evaluation, amid questions about Thompson’s mental competency and declining health. His attorneys have said he suffers from dementia and worsening health and are seeking his transfer to a medical facility.
It was the first time DeSantis had withdrawn a death warrant. Thompson remains on death row, and the governor could issue another warrant in the future.
DeSantis is the third Florida governor to sign a death warrant for Thompson. Former Govs. Bob Graham and Bob Martinez also scheduled his execution in the 1980s, but years of appeals and stays kept Thompson from being placed in the electric chair, which was Florida’s execution method at the time.
In July, Florida executed two prisoners in one day, the first time a state has done so in nearly a decade.
Florida has accelerated its pace of executions amid a flurry of death warrants signed by DeSantis since 2025. The governor oversaw a record 19 executions last year, more than any other Florida governor in a single year since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, accounting for approximately 40% of the U.S. total for 2025.
James Robertson’s execution contrasted with the botched execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee two weeks earlier. (Greg Smith/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images ; Tennessee Department of Correction via AP)
Last year, 47 executions were carried out nationwide, the highest annual total since 2009.
Florida has carried out more than half of the 31 total executions in the country so far this year.
Robertson was the Sunshine State’s 17th execution of 2026, with two more already scheduled, not including Thompson.
William Reaves, 77, who was convicted of fatally shooting a deputy in 1986, is scheduled to be executed Oct. 20. Jesse Guardado, 64, is scheduled to be executed Nov. 5 for robbing and killing a woman to buy drugs in 2004.
