Christa Pike in critical condition after failed Tennessee execution
Christa Pike is alive and in critical condition after an attempt to execute her by lethal injection in Tennessee, her lawyers said. Governor Bill Lee has ordered an independent review and said the remaining execution scheduled for this year will not take place.
At a briefing on Thursday, attorney Randy Spivey said Pike is receiving life-saving medical care following Wednesday evening’s execution attempt at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. He said her lawyers had little information about her condition or prognosis.
Spivey said he saw Pike’s right arm turn purple, particularly after a second round of lethal drugs. He said the legal team understood that she had blistering and burning around the injection sites.
Spivey said the execution team spent an hour trying to establish an IV line. He counted at least seven needles used in Pike’s left arm alone, including one that appeared bent when it was removed after an unsuccessful attempt.
“The state continued its efforts despite the very complications that we had warned about in court months earlier,” he said.
Media witnesses described Pike coughing, moving on the gurney and complaining of pain. “My arm feels like it’s about to burst open,” she said at about 7:34 p.m., according to WKRN anchor Tori Gessner.
Witnesses said two rounds of pentobarbital were administered. Several reporters said curtains blocked their view at about 8:05 p.m., but they could still hear Pike breathing. Spivey said her spiritual adviser was repeatedly removed from her side during the procedure.
After the second dose and a five-minute waiting period, Spivey said Pike was still breathing. He demanded access to a phone to alert the rest of her legal team, a process he said took approximately seven minutes and passage through six locked doors.
He reached the lawyers at about 8:22 p.m., which he described as 40 minutes after the first dose. He then demanded that the execution be stopped and medical care provided, but said he received no confirmation that an ambulance was on its way until 8:50 p.m.
Attorney Steve Ferrell said the team struggled to reach both the governor’s office and the Tennessee Supreme Court. An emergency number supplied by the court went to voicemail, and the lawyers gained access only after filing an emergency motion electronically and emailing the clerk.
During a subsequent hearing, Ferrell said attorneys from the state attorney general’s office provided information gradually, first saying they thought an ambulance had been called and later confirming it. Pike was eventually taken to a hospital.
Ferrell said Pike has a blood disorder and that medical experts had warned the courts that obtaining access to her veins would be difficult.
A case filed in January was dismissed because the team had not sought a stay from the Tennessee Supreme Court. When they sought one, a special master rejected their arguments.
The execution proceeded after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned on Wednesday a temporary stay issued by the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
Spivey called the execution attempt “cruel” and “torturous” and said Lee’s review was insufficient. “The governor must commute Christa’s sentence now,” he said.
Governor Lee told the Associated Press that he had ordered “a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred.”
“Carrying out a lawfully imposed sentence is among the State’s most serious responsibilities, and the people of Tennessee expect it to be done in a manner that is not only legal and constitutional, but is effective,” the governor said.
Pike, 50, was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Pike and her boyfriend lured Slemmer into the woods, where she was beaten and slashed before Pike crushed her skull with a piece of asphalt.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
