Death-row inmate Christa Pike remains unconscious in a guarded hospital room after surviving a botched execution in Tennessee, and her attorney says she may never fully recover.
Tennessee sentenced Pike to death in 1996, when she was 20, for the torture and murder of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer, the previous year.
Pike spent 30 years on death row as her execution was repeatedly delayed. It was eventually scheduled for September 30.
Pike, now 50, was subjected to at least seven needle attempts as medical staff tried to administer two lethal doses of pentobarbital over roughly two hours, according to witnesses and court documents.
But Pike survived. Her attorneys said witnesses could hear her crying, whimpering and breathing heavily during the procedure.
When members of the media were escorted from the viewing chamber at 8:53 p.m.—just over two hours after entering at 6:41 p.m.—Pike could reportedly be heard snoring behind the closed curtains.
She was taken to a hospital unconscious, with swollen and blistered arms. Doctors intubated her and placed her on a ventilator. As of Sunday, she remained alive but unconscious, according to her attorneys.
Stephen Ferrell, one of Pike’s lawyers, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday that her hospital room “is guarded” and that she “may not fully recover.”
Christa Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital during her September 30 execution attempt in Tennessee. She remains unconscious in a guarded hospital room and may never fully recover
Pike was sentenced to death at age 20 in 1996. She is pictured crying during her sentencing hearing
Pike’s victim, classmate Colleen Slemmer, is pictured as a child. Prosecutors said Pike tortured Slemmer for up to an hour before killing her
Pike’s attorney Stephen Ferrell told CNN’s Jake Tapper that his client “may not fully recover” after the botched execution
“I think one of the main things that will leave this up in the air for a while is the fact that we don’t know what the prognosis is, as in the long-term prognosis. If she recovers, she may not fully recover,” Ferrell said.
Ferrell said Pike had not regained consciousness or spoken since the failed execution, to the best of his knowledge.
He also said he had not been permitted to enter her hospital room and that her condition might remain unclear for several more days.
The state has not said whether it intends to make another attempt to execute Pike, Ferrell said.
The attorney added that he had asked Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute Pike’s sentence to life in prison, citing the mental and physical suffering she endured before and during the failed execution.
“We don’t know right now, and we may never know, what sort of torture she endured during that process,” Ferrell said.
During the execution attempt, Pike reportedly said, “My arm feels like it’s about to burst open,” and later asked, “Does this happen like that?”
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The incident became a national scandal and drew a response from President Donald Trump. The following day, Trump said: “How does that happen? Should be easy to do. It shouldn’t be very difficult.”
Pike’s failed execution drew criticism from President Trump, who said: “It shouldn’t be very difficult”
The controversy also prompted Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada to announce his resignation, effective later this month
Tennessee’s execution protocol does not specify what should happen if an inmate survives two lethal-injection doses. The execution chamber where Pike was scheduled to die is pictured
The controversy also led Frank Strada, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction, to announce that he would resign and leave his post later this month.
Strada called it a “great honor” to serve as commissioner and said he continued to believe the department had carried out its responsibilities under the established protocol.
“Even so, stepping aside is in the best interest of Tennesseans as the independent review moves forward,” he said.
Pike’s attorneys have accused the Department of Correction of failing their client.
They contend that problems with the intravenous lines caused the pentobarbital to enter Pike’s body rather than flow properly into her bloodstream.
“Apparently at no point did any member of the execution team realize that the IV lines were not correctly placed or that the veins had blown and that the pentobarbital was, in whole or in part, entering Ms Pike’s body,” the attorneys wrote in a court filing.
Rather than correcting the problem, the lawyers said, the execution team prepared and administered a second set of pentobarbital syringes.
Pike’s legal team is seeking to preserve all evidence from the failed execution to pursue accountability and protect her legal rights.
Pike’s attorneys allege that the IV lines were not properly placed, causing the lethal injection to enter her body instead of her bloodstream
Pike, pictured in 1996, carved a pentagram into Slemmer’s chest and took a fragment of her shattered skull after killing her with a piece of asphalt
The court filing noted that Pike had previously appealed her execution, arguing it would constitute cruel and unusual punishment because of her individual medical and psychological conditions, including thrombocytosis, post-traumatic stress disorder and small veins.
Tennessee’s execution protocol instructs officials to administer a second set of drug syringes “if the inmate is not deceased” after the first set. However, it does not explain what should happen if the inmate remains alive after the second dose.
Governor Lee has suspended any further executions in Tennessee for the remainder of the year and ordered “a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred.”
Pike was 18 when she lured Slemmer to an isolated location on the University of Tennessee campus in January 1995. Alongside her boyfriend and another friend, she tortured Slemmer for up to an hour.
Slemmer was stabbed more than 100 times with a box cutter before Pike killed her by striking her with a piece of asphalt. Pike then carved a pentagram into Slemmer’s chest and took a fragment of her crushed skull as a souvenir.
