Tennessee state officials are opposing a request by Christa Pike's legal team to access the lethal injection drug used in her failed execution, arguing that revealing the supplier would breach state law, according to court documents.
Pike, 50, was given two doses of pentobarbital on September 30. After the second dose failed to end her life and she was heard snoring, she was taken to hospital. She had been set to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
Court filing seeks to block drug inspection
In a court filing on Friday, Tennessee asked the judge to rescind the part of her order that allows Pike's legal team to inspect, collect and test any leftover pentobarbital from the failed execution attempt.
A Tennessee Department of Correction employee, whose name was not disclosed, said in a sworn statement that the drug supplier would become identifiable if Pike's legal team handled parts of the drug left over or reviewed the vials' labeling. The employee wrote that residue of the pentobarbital used in the botched execution is "most likely to be found" in vials of the substance used in the attempted execution.
Legal team argues for transparency
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti wrote in a court filing: "Pike's counsel and experts cannot be allowed to see, handle, or otherwise get the information on the leftover vials of pentobarbital from Pike's attempted execution."
In response, Pike's legal team said it is important to review how the pentobarbital was labeled and stored to understand if there were issues with how it was mixed, transported or handled, and whether it was expired.
Luke Ihnen, a lawyer representing Pike, said: "We still don't know exactly what happened that night. Those types of things are all valuable pieces of information about what went wrong." He added that publicly identifying the state's lethal injection drug supplier "has never been the goal".
Pike's condition and background
Pike was discharged from hospital 10 days after the execution attempt and sent back to Tennessee's Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, where she has been housed for more than 30 years. Her lawyers say she is continuing to receive medical care in prison, and they previously said she faced a "long road to recovery".
In 1995, Pike and her boyfriend tortured and stabbed Colleen Slemmer, 19, to death. Pike was 18 at the time, making her one of the youngest women sentenced to death. Slemmer's mother had traveled from Florida to witness Pike's botched execution.
