Christa Pike is walking, talking and eating after surviving Tennessee’s attempt to execute her with lethal drugs, according to her attorneys. Pike, 50, survived two doses of pentobarbital as the state sought to give her a lethal injection for the 1995 beating and stabbing to death of classmate Colleen Slemmer. The drug didn’t kill her, and her arms were left burned and blistered, according to her lawyers.
For the first few days of her hospitalisation, Pike was unconscious and on a ventilator. On Tuesday she regained consciousness, defying all odds, as it was thought after she was taken to the ICU that she could have been brain dead. It was "to the shock of everyone" that she woke up on Tuesday and began to speak.
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On Wednesday, Pike's lawyer Randy Spivey told reporters she asked two questions as soon as she woke up. She said: "Where am I and who are you?" He said: "I do not have an explanation for what happened between Monday night and Tuesday morning, but what we do know is that Christa has a long road to recovery."
A day later, on Thursday, her lawyers shared new information on her recovery. Her first steps on Wednesday were "limited" and she required some assistance as she walked on Thursday, her lawyers said in a statement. She is also regaining mobility in her arms, and she was able to eat for the first time. But the lawyers warned uncertainty remains about her physical recovery and her legal standing after the attempt to carry out her death sentence.
Victim's Mother Responds
May Martinez, the mother of Pike’s murder victim Colleen Slemmer, said she had a feeling Pike would survive. She also said she does not think that Tennessee will make another attempt to execute her daughter’s killer, in an interview with NBC affiliate WBIR. WBIR asked Martinez what her preference would be for what happens next to Pike, to which she responded, "It doesn’t matter what I think. They’re going to do what they’re going to do."
'Extraordinary Injuries'
Spivey said on Wednesday that his client has suffered "extraordinary" swelling to her hands, which he described as looking like "if you tried to blow up a surgical glove". The killer also woke up with a blood clot and pneumonia, and was unable to swallow, eat or move her badly swollen arms. "I don't know what function she will regain," he revealed. "We do know that there is a long road ahead".
"While her physical recovery has been remarkable, significant questions remain about the long-term effects of what she endured," her attorneys said in Thursday's statement. "Christa is dealing with the profound psychological trauma of having survived a failed execution, including the terror, pain and uncertainty of believing she was about to die."
Botched Execution 'Foreseeable'
The lawyers went on to claim during their press conference that the botched execution of their client was "foreseeable". Spivey said it was "foreseeable and foreseen", and he claimed the state of Tennessee was warned ahead of time about what could transpire. He explained: "What happened to Christa is exactly what the state was warned would happen, and there are so many questions that need to be answered, not by Christa — but by the state of Tennessee. One of those questions has to be, 'how much suffering is enough?'"
Spivey said he and his colleagues had warned courts beforehand that Pike had vein issues that would make it especially difficult to carry out execution by lethal injection. Spivey added that Pike was "at peace" in the moments before she was put to death, and "kind and polite" while officials attempted to kill her. He told the press conference that he believed she has been left feeling "angry and confused", and is asking about people. She said: "She has wanted to know what’s happened, and she’s asked about several people. I think she is angry and confused about everything right now."
Shackled Despite Injuries
As officials debate what should be done with Pike, she remains shackled to her bed at the Tennessee hospital where she was taken after the execution. Her lawyers have said she is shackled both by her hands and feet, and they have requested that these be released, attorney Luke Ihnen told Judge l’Ashea Myles. He said: "My understanding is one hand is shackled and her feet are shackled. Medical personnel have requested that her hand at least be unshackled, given the extensive damage done to her arms and hands."
Pike has extensive injuries to her hands, which Spivey has described in vivid detail as looking like a blown "surgical glove". He said: "Her hands looked like if you were to blow up a surgical glove," he said. "The swelling was extraordinary, and that’s, that’s probably as far as I can go."
What Happens to Pike Now?
It remains unclear whether Tennessee will try to execute her again. Her attorneys have said that they will urge Republican Gov. Bill Lee to commute her death sentence to life in prison without parole. "She should never be subjected to another execution attempt," they said in the statement. Lee has since postponed the state’s only other scheduled execution this year and ordered a review of why the execution failed. Medical and lethal injection experts have focused on whether a problem with the IV line caused the drug to pool in her tissue instead of entering her bloodstream.
