Christa Pike is unconscious and on a ventilator in a Nashville hospital after two failed attempts to execute her, according to her lawyers. Two doses of the lethal injection drug pentobarbital were administered on Wednesday, but Pike remained alive with a heartbeat. She was taken to a hospital, where by Thursday night she was placed on a ventilator.
Lawyers cite IV line problems
In a court filing, Pike's attorneys said they believe problems with the IV lines caused the fatal drug to flow into her body instead of her bloodstream. They wrote: 'Apparently, 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.'
Rather than 'remedying this failure', they said, authorities prepared and administered a backup set of pentobarbital syringes. The execution team spent an hour administering the drugs to no avail. Defence lawyer Randy Spivey said he counted at least seven needles in her arm.
Witnesses report pain and snoring
Journalists who witnessed the failed execution reported that Pike was audibly snoring, as heard on the chamber's microphone, and complained of pain. At one point, she remarked, 'My arm feels like it's about to burst open,' then asked, 'Does this happen like that?' She also kicked her feet repeatedly, knocking off the sheets placed over her.
As both sides of the death penalty case continue demanding answers, the State's governor, Republican Bill Lee, has ordered 'a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred'. Lee told press yesterday morning that he was uncertain of Pike's current condition and said he was 'disappointed about what happened last night'.
Governor and prison officials respond
'Tennesseans deserve a justice system that is fair, that's consistent, [and] that is faithfully administered,' Lee said. 'My responsibility is to uphold the sentences that Tennessee juries have handed down, even when it's difficult, and that is exactly what we intend to do in the days ahead.'
A spokesperson for the Department of Correction insisted that 'every step of the State's lawful, established execution protocol' is approved by the Attorney General's Office. They said 'the lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective'.
Pike's execution has been indefinitely postponed, as has another scheduled for later this year. Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of Colleen Slemmer, then aged 19. The teen's mother, May Martinez, has called this week's botched execution 'a mess'. Pike was to become the first woman to be executed in Tennessee in 200 years. Instead, she's become the first person ever to survive two lethal injections.
