Death row prisoner Christa Pike, 50, remains critically ill in hospital under guard after a failed execution on Wednesday. Her solicitor, Stephen Ferrel, told CNN: “She is guarded. I’m not sure who may have seen her. I know I have not seen her. The state of Tennessee has not yet said whether it will ultimately try to execute her again.”
Lawyer's update on condition
Mr Ferrel said Pike “may not fully recover” if she is allowed to live. He added: “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.”
Pike remains in hospital, unconscious and incubated on a ventilator as doctors work to save her life and clear the drug from her system completely.
Details of the failed execution
Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of Colleen Slemmer. Her lawyers now want her case and sentence commuted after the failed bid on her life.
Court papers say that during the execution, prison officials used an IV line on Pike, trying to gain IV access via seven different needle points. At one point, Pike herself offered guidance on where they could try. “One needle was bent in a 90-degree angle when it was removed,” the filing states.
Her lawyers say Pike “could be heard crying, whimpering, and breathing loudly throughout the procedure.” The filing continued: “At one point Ms. Pike stated 'my arm feels like it's about to burst open" and at another asked "'does this happen like that?'"
Legal and medical concerns
Pike's attorneys previously warned that her conditions, including thrombocytosis (a blood-clotting condition) and small veins, meant there was a risk she would experience “unnecessary” pain and suffering during a lethal injection, but the procedure went ahead as planned.
In the latest filings, her lawyers allege that “at no point did any member of the execution team realise 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”. They are requesting that all relevant physical, written and electronic evidence is preserved.
The failure in Tennessee's execution chamber on Wednesday has left both sides on the death penalty debate demanding answers, with the state's governor also ordering an independent review.
