The mother of murder victim Colleen Slemmer has broken her silence following the failed execution of her daughter's killer, Tennessee death row prisoner Christa Pike.
Pike, 50, is now conscious and communicating after a botched lethal injection last Wednesday left her unconscious and requiring life support. She withstood two administrations of pentobarbital during the attempted execution for the 1995 slaying of Slemmer.
Nearly a week after the failed procedure, her legal team provided an update, revealing that her arms sustained severe burns and blistering.
Legal team and victim's mother respond
Pike's legal representatives stated: "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."
May Martinez, Pike's victim's mother, acknowledged she had anticipated Pike's survival. She also expressed doubt that Tennessee authorities will attempt another execution of her daughter's murderer, she said in an interview with NBC affiliate WBIR.
When WBIR enquired what Martinez would prefer regarding Pike's fate, she replied, "It doesn't matter what I think. They're going to do what they're going to do."
Medical and legal experts weigh in
Dr Joel Zivot, an anaesthesiology and surgery professor based in Atlanta who served as an expert consultant for Pike's legal team, stated the development "bodes well for a good recovery." However, he cautioned that it could take weeks or months before the full extent of her recovery becomes apparent, and whether her competency could be sufficiently restored to allow the state to pursue another execution attempt. Providing an update on her condition, he confirmed: "She's still in the ICU."
Pike's survival of two lethal injection doses has raised serious questions surrounding competency — specifically whether she comprehends the reason she faces execution. Deborah Denno, a Fordham Law professor who has spent 36 years studying execution methods, noted that Pike has compelling grounds to argue that a further attempt would constitute cruel and unusual punishment, as well as violating double jeopardy protections against being tried or punished twice for the same offence.
"She has satisfied this very, very high standard for cruel and unusual punishment," Denno said. "She also has a very good double-jeopardy argument. They carried out every aspect of the execution. She didn't die, but every process they intended, they did it."
Seattle University Law Professor Michael Russo, who previously handled capital cases as a public defender in Los Angeles, described the botched execution as appalling, yet expressed scepticism that the Supreme Court would prevent the state from making another attempt on double-jeopardy grounds, should it choose to proceed. "There's nobody else in the history of the death penalty in this country who has gone through what she's been through," Russo said. But, he added, "I think what this Supreme Court would say is, her sentence was to die - to be executed - not to suffer an attempt at execution."
Governor suspends executions
Pike's legal team stated in their Tuesday announcement that they persist in urging outgoing Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to reduce Pike's sentence to life imprisonment without parole.
Following Pike's hospitalisation, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee suspended all further executions and commissioned a "comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred." U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn, the state's Republican contender to succeed him, urged the state to examine alternative execution methods to guarantee capital punishment can proceed.
