Christa Pike, the Death Row killer who survived a botched lethal injection, has a blood clot in one arm, pneumonia, and is unable to swallow, her lawyers have revealed. The 50-year-old regained consciousness and is now 'speaking limitedly' after a double dose of lethal injections in what has been described as a 'medically unprecedented' series of events.
Pike's current condition
Pike's lawyers said on Monday doctors feared she could be brain dead, yet 24 hours later she woke up and started talking. Her family members stated that the hospital was going to take her off her ventilator before she regained consciousness.
Randy Spivey, one of Pike's lawyers, stated: "On Monday night, it was our understanding that Christa was brain dead and that life support would be removed the next day. But on Tuesday, to the shock of everyone, including me, including her team and including the medical team, Christa woke up and began talking. I do not have an explanation for what happened between Monday night and Tuesday morning, but what we do know is Christa has a long road to recovery."
He added: "She has a blood clot in one of her arms. She has pneumonia. She is not able to swallow yet, so she has not eaten. She cannot move either of her arms. Both of her arms and hands are tremendously swollen, and we do not know what, if any, function she will regain. She is shackled at her feet and on her right arm."
Two questions and court hearing
Pike's defence lawyer revealed she asked two chilling questions after regaining consciousness. Spivey said upon waking up Pike asked: "Where am I?" and "Who are you?" He added she was "angry and confused" and was "very aware that the state tried to execute her".
In a court hearing, Pike's lawyers revealed she was cuffed to her hospital bed. Her legal team requested the judge to order the shackles to be removed and for her to be allowed phone access. Judge I'Ashea Myles did not rule on these requests. The judge asked Pike's lawyers to provide more information on how Pike could use the phone in hospital and to prove that medical staff wanted her cuffs to be removed.
Why do experts think Pike survived?
On Wednesday, the court heard Pike has narrow veins and had struggled with drawing blood before, with staff often using a butterfly needle. Reports suggest she had even asked to be hanged instead.
Pike's lawyer Luke Ihnen stated she had a "history of difficulty with blood draws and needle insertion". He added: "Prison medical staff often use a butterfly needle on her arm to draw blood, because her veins are so difficult to access." He stated that she may survive again if another lethal injection execution was to be scheduled.
Why is Pike on Death Row?
Pike, now 50, was sentenced to death for the 1995 torture and slaying of a classmate, Colleen Slemmer. Pike was age 18 at the time and became one of the youngest women put on death row.
May Martinez, the mother of Pike's murder victim Colleen Slemmer, revealed she had a premonition that Pike would survive. She also expressed doubt that Tennessee will make another attempt to execute her daughter's killer, in an interview with NBC affiliate WBIR.
May has also expressed her outrage at Pike's survival. She stated: "If I could have gotten in that room, I would have taken the box cutter and cut her up like she did Colleen." The heartbroken mother has now been deprived of over 30 years of memories. She stated: "Well, you miss a lot. You miss the holidays, you miss the birthdays, you miss Mother's Days and stuff like that."
Other methods
Following her botched execution, Tennessee's top Republicans said they want to explore alternative ways of executing death row inmates. U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the state's Republican candidate for governor, said Pike's unsuccessful execution by lethal injection last week "should not be grounds to halt carrying out the death penalty". Instead, she stated Tennessee needs to re-evaluate the way it does executions.
Speaking to The Associated Press, Blackburn said: "If it's lethal injection, if it is electric chair, what we do know is we have to find a way to do this - and do it successfully." House Speaker Cameron Sexton stated: "We want to broaden it, include more methods." He added: "What those are as of today, I'm not sure. But I don't think there's any method that's off the table at this point."
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee suspended all further executions following Pike's hospitalisation and ordered a "comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred."
