TENNESSEE, United States – Convicted murderer Christa Pike woke up in hospital “angry and confused” after surviving a failed lethal injection execution in Tennessee, her lawyers have said.
Pike, 50, regained consciousness days after two rounds of pentobarbital were administered during an execution attempt on September 30.
Her lawyer, Randy Spivey, said Pike’s first words after waking were questions about where she was and who the people around her were.
She had been unconscious for days and her legal team had feared she was brain dead and would be taken off life support.
However, in what Spivey described as a shock to everyone, Pike began speaking on Tuesday, although she remembers only limited details of the execution attempt.
“She was angry and confused,” Spivey said, describing Pike’s condition after she regained consciousness.
Pike Remains Hospitalised And Restrained
Pike remains in hospital receiving critical medical care and is being restrained by her hands and feet, according to her lawyers.
She is unable to swallow and remains under close medical observation.
Her lawyers said Pike was surprised to discover that she had survived the execution attempt after she regained consciousness with a tube in her throat and people she did not recognise around her.
The legal team said Pike had cooperated with execution personnel before the procedure, including helping them locate a vein in her arm.
After two rounds of pentobarbital failed to kill her, she was taken to hospital, where she remained unconscious as doctors worked to clear the drug from her system.
Pike is believed by her lawyers to be the only person in the United States to survive an execution attempt involving lethal injection.
Judge Orders Evidence From Execution Preserved
A Tennessee judge has ordered the state to preserve evidence connected to the failed execution.
The order followed an emergency hearing on Wednesday in which Pike’s lawyers asked for material that could potentially be used in a future lawsuit against the state.
Judge Chancellor I’Ashea Myles directed officials to preserve items from the execution room, including IV lines and syringes.
The order also covers waste materials such as packaging, inserts and labels.
The judge further directed the state to preserve documentation relating to Pike’s psychological condition before, during and after the execution attempt.
She warned officials to take special care to ensure that relevant information is not misplaced or accidentally deleted.
Tennessee Assistant Attorney General Will Ayers argued that an emergency preservation order was unnecessary because the state was already required to retain evidence. The judge nevertheless issued the order.
Lawyers Seek Greater Access To Pike
Pike’s legal team also asked the court to give her access to a telephone so she can communicate directly with her lawyers.
Attorney Luke Ihnen said the team had faced difficulties communicating with Pike while she was unconscious and that lawyers had recently been kept waiting for more than two hours during an attempt to visit her in hospital.
Ihnen also raised concerns over Pike being shackled to her hospital bed despite requests from medical staff that the restraints be removed.
He asked the court to require Tennessee Department of Corrections officials to give the legal team at least 48 hours’ notice before Pike is transferred from the hospital to another state or government-run facility.
Asked whether the state intended to reschedule Pike’s execution, Ayers said he did not know.
Tennessee Pauses Executions
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has ordered a pause on executions in the state for the remainder of the year and said he wants answers about what went wrong during Pike’s execution.
The state’s prisons chief has also announced plans to resign following the failed execution.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, whom she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, met at a job training camp for troubled teenagers.
Pike was 18 at the time of the killing, while Shipp was 17.
Shipp was therefore not eligible for the death penalty because he was a minor at the time of the crime. He remains in prison.
Pike’s survival has placed renewed attention on the circumstances surrounding Tennessee’s execution procedures, while her lawyers continue to seek access to evidence and medical information from the failed execution.
