Christa Pike’s attorneys have issued regular updates in the days since her botched execution in Tennessee. Pike, 50, was transported to a hospital after surviving two doses of the lethal drug pentobarbital on September 30 as the state sought to execute her for the 1995 murder of classmate Colleen Slemmer. In an update on Thursday, her attorneys called her physical recovery “remarkable,” but said that questions remain about the long-term effects of what she endured as well as her legal standing.
The failed execution has brought fresh scrutiny on how states carry out the death penalty, particularly when using lethal injection. Pike’s attorneys said that the state should never attempt to execute her again, as they repeated their calls for Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute her death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Newsweek reached out to Lee's office and the Tennessee Department of Correction via email for comment.
After the failed execution, Pike’s attorneys said she was alive and loudly snoring. In a statement issued that night, they said she was being treated at a nearby hospital and that they had not been told about her condition. Pike proved to be true: difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy.” The Tennessee Department of Correction said in a statement the same night that it "followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office.
The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective, and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out this evening. Christa Pike has been transported to an off-site medical facility." Lee announced an independent review of Pike’s botched execution and paused the remaining scheduled executions of the year. Pike’s execution was the second time this year that Tennessee was unable to carry out an execution.
Officials called off the execution of Tony Carruthers in May after the execution team tried and failed for over an hour to place an IV to administer pentobarbital. At a press conference on October 1, two of Pike’s attorneys provided updates and called for clemency for their client. It was also predictable,” attorney Randy Spivey said during the news conference.
He added that she was in “critical condition receiving life-saving care.” Spivey said the execution team worked for an hour to administer the lethal drugs, and he counted at least seven needles in her left arm. Another attorney, Steve Ferrell, said Pike had feared there would be complications because of a lifelong blood disorder that made it tough to get needles into her veins. More details about Pike's condition emerged in an October 2 emergency court filing where Pike’s attorneys sought to preserve evidence from Pike’s failed execution.
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