Free Republic

PROSPECT, Tenn. (WSMV) - Every tap on wind chimes, ringing of the doorbell, and clapping with her mother is part of the language of 15-year-old Sophia Finocchio. Sophia has Down syndrome, is nonverbal and has autism. For years, her family spent much of their days trying to understand her needs. But beginning in July 2025, Sophia made noticeable behavioral strides through in-home applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy provided by a company called The Perfect Child. On its website, The Perfect Child advertises that it works with most commercial insurance plans and offers financial assistance. What Sophia’s family did not anticipate...

Tennessee officials are hitting back at Christa Pike’s brazen demand to be transferred into a cushy, low-security prison unit while recovering from her botched execution, newly filed court records reveal. The 50-year-old convicted murder “thinks she knows better than her treating providers and [Tennessee Department of Corrections] officials about how to treat her medical needs while keeping her safe and secure,” state attorneys blasted in the docs, which were filed in federal court on Wednesday. The fiery remarks were in response to an emergency order filed by Pike’s legal team on Oct. 30, which sought to have her removed from...

President Trump said Wednesday he is not considering replacing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth but predicted the Pentagon chief would be “very popular” if he filled Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s (R-Tenn.) seat. “No, I think he’s doing a very good job,” the president said when asked whether he is considering replacing Hegseth following the Republican Party’s poor showing during Tuesday’s midterms, where Democrats took the House, the Senate and multiple governors’ mansions. CBS News reported Wednesday that Trump has been asking advisers and allies whether Hegseth should stay in the post following the midterms. Hegseth, a former Army National Guard major, is...

Jacob Allen Morley broke out of the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville on Oct. 25 ... Missouri state troopers have captured an escaped convict who broke free from a Tennessee prison last week ... Jacob Allen Morley broke out of the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tennessee, on Oct. 25, officials said previously. He was serving a life prison sentence for murder. After his escape, he allegedly stole a truck... As state troopers closed in on him, they say he tried to veer off the road and got stuck. He was arrested without further incident about two hours after police...

A large Georgia family survived flames that destroyed their house — thanks to a good Samaritan who stumbled upon the blaze after his GPS took him a different way home, officials said Tuesday. Firefighters in northwest Georgia were called at 11:58 p.m. Oct. 17 and rushed to 28 Rowlls Road, where they found the structure engulfed by flames, Lyerly Fire Chief Tim Deberry told NBC News. James and Larita Burke, their 11 adopted children and one grandchild made it out safely with a helping hand from 37-year-old motorist Casey Sparks, officials said. Sparks had been playing softball that day in...

A former University of Kentucky cheerleader who admitted ending the life of her newborn son after he was born alive was sentenced Friday to just 10 years in prison. Laken Snelling, 22, of White Pine, Tennessee, received concurrent sentences from Fayette Circuit Judge Diane Minnifield: 10 years for first-degree manslaughter and one year each for abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant. Prosecutors had recommended the concurrent terms as part of a plea agreement. She received credit for 415 days already spent under house arrest and will be eligible for parole after...

As questions remain as to what happens next for Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike after a botched execution attempt last week, her accomplice and former boyfriend has at least another five years before his next parole hearing in the 1995 torture and murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. Tadaryl Shipp, 49, was 17 years old when he, Pike and another person tortured and killed Slemmer, their classmate from a vocational school, in a crime with "satanic elements" that still haunts investigators 31 years later. Prosecutors accused Shipp of holding Slemmer down when she tried to escape her attackers...

Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike has been discharged from the hospital and returned to prison after surviving a botched lethal injection that left her with serious medical complications, her attorneys announced. Pike, who survived two doses of the execution drug pentobarbital on Sept. 30, is back at the Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, where she has been housed for more than 30 years, according to a joint statement from her legal team. "Christa Pike was discharged from a local hospital and is now at Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center where she has been housed for more than 30 years,"...

A man armed with a gun and a knife was shot dead at a federal courthouse in Nashville on Thursday. According to News 3, the attacker tried to discharge his gun but it wouldn't fire so he used a knife to attack the security guard. The security guard fatally shot the gunman. The gunman was identified as an out-of-state US Marshal. The motive for the attack is unknown. Local 3 News reported: The shooter was identified as an out-of-state U.S. Marshal, who police say entered the front door armed with a pistol. The gunman is dead and there is no...

Christa Pike, the Tennessee death row inmate who survived a failed attempt to execute her nearly a week ago, is awake, her attorneys told reporters after a court hearing Wednesday. Prosecutors and Pike’s legal team were at the Davidson County Chancery Court in Nashville regarding a motion by the defense to require the state to preserve evidence from the botched execution, including syringes, drugs, IV lines, and other medical equipment. Pike’s attorneys also complained that state corrections officials had “put up roadblocks” inhibiting them from having access to her hospital room, according to a report by The New York Times....

All 90 pages of Nashville transgender shooter Audrey Hale manifesto was released by The Tennessee Star on Tuesday. Contents from the manifesto of Covenant School shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a biological female who identified as a transgender male at the time of her horrific attack on March 27, 2023, was leaked earlier this year. Star News Digital Media, Inc., which owns and operates The Star, and the publication’s editor-in-chief, Michael Patrick Leahy, are currently plaintiffs in lawsuits seeking to compel the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) and the FBI to release Hale’s writings, including those referred to as a manifesto....

Christa Pike, a Tennessee inmate who survived Tennessee’s attempt to execute her, is conscious and speaking as she continues to receive medical care at a hospital, according to a statement from her attorneys. “Against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care. Despite the severe damage she endured to her arms, she is still handcuffed and shackled to the bed. Her recovery is medically unprecedented. Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery,” her attorneys said in a statement. Pike survived two ostensibly lethal doses of pentobarbital last week...

NEW: Every federal judge in the Middle District of Tennessee has recused from Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s lawsuit against former Special Counsel Jack Smith. The Sixth Circuit will now designate an outside district judge to hear the case.

Tennessee didn't just fail to execute Christa Pike, argues anesthesiologist and intensive care doctor Joel Zivot in a New York Times opinion piece—it exposed what lethal injection really is. Zivot, hired as a medical expert by Pike's legal team, says he warned that her small veins and medical history made a botched execution more likely. On Wednesday, pentobarbital was injected into her veins; when the first dose didn't stop her heart, a second was given. Her arms turned purple, her lawyers say, and she reported extreme pain before an ambulance was finally called more than an hour after the process...

The Islamic Center of Nashville (ICN) is once again wrapping itself in the language of “diversity,” “inclusion,” and “beyond borders.” It proudly showcased its 6th Annual Diversity Brunch as a resounding success. Approximately 600 people attended. Food and cultural exhibits from more than 30 nations filled the space. Uzbekistan, Malaysia, and Mexico took top honors. Second Harvest Food Bank collected donations. The Nashville Banner received a “Beyond Borders Award” for being a “champion of inclusion and justice.” Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell was there as a special guest – lending the city’s highest office to the mosque’s photo op. Police officials...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — An ambulance is designed to save a life, but Wednesday night, one was called to Riverbend Maximum Security Prison after the State of Tennessee tried to end one. The failed execution of Christa Pike, who was sentenced to death for brutally torturing and murdering 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville in 1995, has raised a lot of questions, including why prison officials called emergency medical services so Pike could receive lifesaving care after attempting to execute her just minutes prior. Pike received two doses of the lethal drug, pentobarbital and survived on Wednesday. According to Pike’s attorneys,...

The doctor who oversaw Christa Pike's failed lethal injection also supervised another Tennessee death row inmate's botched execution in May. Pike, 50, who was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of her classmate Colleen Slemmer, was administered two syringes of pentobarbital at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville late Wednesday. But she was still alive and loudly snoring after the attempted lethal injection and was rushed to a hospital by ambulance, her attorneys said. She remains hospitalized, but her legal team claims they have not been informed about her condition and no updates have been given. Her lawyers...

The first woman set to be put to death in Tennessee in over 200 years was given two doses of a lethal injection Wednesday evening, but remained alive as her botched execution descended into chaos — and prompted the governor to demand an outside probe and issue an emergency pause on all executions for the remainder of the year. Christa Pike, 50, was strapped to a gurney in the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution death chamber just before 7:30 p.m. CDT after the US Supreme Court overruled her stay of execution an hour earlier. Pike — who, at 18, murdered her...

…..According to media witnesses, authorities appeared to give Pike two doses of pentobarbital, and she was still awake and snoring more than 40 minutes after the last dose, The AP reported, and at 8:53 p.m. local time, there was an announcement to escort media witnesses out of the area.

Witnesses said a second dose of pentobarbital were used after the first dose did not kill Pike. The second dose did not kill her either. She was still alive when witnesses left the room.