Christa Pike, the US death row inmate who survived two lethal injections, has been placed on a ventilator and intubated. Her lawyers said on Friday that she “remains critically ill” at a hospital in Nashville.
A statement from Pike’s attorneys, Stephen Ferrell and Luke Ihnen, read: “She is being treated for the serious effects of the pentobarbital administered during the execution attempt, including significant injuries to both arms.”
Lawyers demand evidence be preserved
The attorneys are also asking the Tennessee Department of Correction to “protect and preserve all evidence related to the State’s failed attempt to execute her on Wednesday night”.
On Thursday, it was reported that Pike was unresponsive but not in a coma following the two attempted executions, in which she was pierced with a needle seven times. She was in a critical condition after surviving two full doses of pentobarbital, a lethal drug.
Execution described as “cruel and torturous”
Her solicitor Randy Spivey said the execution was “inefficient, cruel, and torturous”. Spivey previously said he “counted at least seven needles” in her arms. “I counted at least seven needles used in her left arm alone. One of which appeared to be bent when it was pulled from her left arm after an unsuccessful attempt,” he said.
At one point during Wednesday night’s execution attempt, Pike remained awake and complained about the feeling in her arm. She then asked prison officials if it was normal to feel that way.
Appeal for clemency and official response
Spivey urged Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute Pike's death sentence to life imprisonment.
The Tennessee Department of Correction said in a statement: “The Tennessee Department of Correction followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office. The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective, and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out this evening.”
Pike was sentenced to death for a murder she committed at age 18 in 1995. She has been on death row for decades for the killing of Colleen Slemmer. She would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. Slemmer's body was found with a pentagram carved onto her chest. Pike would have been the 30th person executed in the U.S. this year.
