Christa Pike's future remains uncertain after she survived seven lethal injections and is now clinging to life in hospital. It is unclear whether Tennessee authorities will attempt to execute the convicted killer again if she recovers.
Her arms were left burned and blistered after the executioner struggled to find a vein. Her lawyer, Stephen Ferrel, gave an update to 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 concerns over recovery
Ferrell believes Pike 'may not fully recover' if she is not executed. '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,' he added.
Pike is intubated, on a ventilator, and remains unconscious in a Nashville-area hospital, her lawyers said on Friday. Pike, who was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, was set to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in 200 years.
What went wrong during the execution attempt
Tennessee prison officials gave Pike two doses of the lethal injection drug on Wednesday after a last-minute stay was quashed. Pike gave someone her medical power of attorney, and that person is protecting her privacy, Ferrell said. 'I'm not sure what all they may have told that person,' Ferrell said.
Several witnesses following the execution attempt reported hearing Pike breathe and snore loudly even when the curtains of the execution chamber were drawn. Before the dose was administered at around 7.27pm, Pike was strapped to a gurney and is reported as saying 'I'm going to leave this world the way I spent most of my life and that is in love'. She then remained awake and at one point asked if her arm was supposed to feel that way.
At 8.26pm, execution witnesses reported a second dose of pentobarbital had been administered. Pike was then heard snoring before the microphone was cut off at 8.53pm. One of her attorneys said the 50-year-old was being 'provided life-saving measures' in hospital.
Why was Christa Pike convicted?
Pike and her then boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp beat and tortured to death 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. The case garnered widespread attention at the time of the killing in part because a pentagram that was carved on Slemmer's body and other elements of the crime stoked fears of Satan worship during the 'satanic panic' of the 1980s and 1990s.
After the killing, Pike was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. She claimed she only wanted to fight Slemmer but killed her in a frenzied attack when she couldn't 'put the brakes on.' At the time Pike believed Slemmer was trying to steal Shipp — a fellow student with whom she shared an interest in satanic imagery — away from her, although friends of the victim denied this.
Prosecutors said that Slemmer was kicked, beaten and slashed for half an hour, and that Pike carved a pentagram into her chest while she was still alive, before she died from blows to the head with a chunk of asphalt. Slemmer's half-naked body was found the next morning, with her blood-soaked clothes hanging above her on tree branches. All the teenagers involved were arrested within 36 hours, with investigators discovering a satanic Bible and altar in Pike's room, along with a fragment of Slemmer's skull.
A spokeswoman for Pike's defence team said in a statement early Sunday that 'we appreciate all respect for Christa's rightful privacy.'
