Christa Pike is awake after failed execution - attorneys
Kyiv • UNN
Christa Pike survived an execution attempt in Tennessee and is in the hospital. Her attorneys are demanding that evidence be preserved and the causes of the failure be determined.
In the United States, death-row inmate Christa Pike regained consciousness after Tennessee’s failed attempt to execute her by lethal injection last week. Her lawyers intend to go to court on Wednesday, October 7, to obtain more information about what went wrong. UNN reports this, citing AP.
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Pike, 50, survived two doses of pentobarbital when executioners attempted to execute her on September 30 for beating and murdering her classmate, Colleen Slemmer, in 1995. Pike is believed to be the only person to have survived the administration of lethal injections.
Pike’s lawyers are due to appear in court on Wednesday to obtain more information from the Tennessee Department of Correction. Chancellor’s Court Judge I’Ashea Myles scheduled a preliminary hearing in the case for Wednesday in Nashville.
"Against all expectations, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care," Pike’s lawyers said in a statement. Pike’s prognosis remains unclear, and at a minimum, she faces a lengthy recovery, the lawyers said. They said Pike’s arms were burned and covered in blisters after the lethal-injection attempt, and that she is shackled to a hospital bed.
Pike’s lawyers are seeking a court order requiring the prison system to preserve information about the execution attempt, including drug lot numbers, needles, execution protocols, and other information.
Lawyers from the Tennessee attorney general’s office wrote in a court filing on Tuesday that a court order was unnecessary because the prison system "is obligated to preserve this evidence in other cases and should ensure its preservation." They said state officials had taken "the necessary steps to provide medical care for Pike and determine what happened."
Republican Governor Bill Lee called what happened "deeply troubling" and ordered a "comprehensive third-party review to determine exactly what happened." The governor postponed the state’s only other execution scheduled for this year.
Experts in medicine and lethal injections have focused on the possibility that a problem with the intravenous catheter caused the drug to accumulate in her tissue rather than enter the bloodstream. Pike’s lawyers wrote in their court filings that "apparently, no member of the execution team realized that the intravenous catheters had been improperly placed or that the veins had ruptured."
The execution attempt began at around 7:30 p.m. local time on September 30, when Pike was given an opportunity to make a final statement. Approximately five minutes later, Pike raised her head and said that her arm hurt. At some point, she appeared to lose consciousness, but her breathing could be heard until members of the media were escorted out of the witness room at 8:53 p.m. At 9:14 p.m., an ambulance arrived at the prison to take Pike to the hospital.