Christa Pike remains unconscious and on a ventilator four days after a failed execution in Tennessee, where she survived two injections of the lethal drug pentobarbital.
Doctors are working to clear the excessive amount of pentobarbital from her system. However, her lawyer said it may take several more days to determine whether she will recover.
Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday (October 4), Pike’s lawyer Stephen Ferrell said he was not aware of her regaining consciousness at any point after the execution attempt.
Pike, 50, received two doses of pentobarbital during the execution attempt on Wednesday night, September 30. Neither dose killed her. Her lawyers have said the incident caused serious injuries to both of her arms.
Ferrell said Pike had previously granted another person legal authority to make medical decisions on her behalf. That person is currently keeping her medical information private, and Pike’s lawyers have not disclosed who is making decisions about her treatment.
Very little information has been released about Pike’s physical condition since the execution attempt. She has remained in a heavily guarded hospital.
Ferrell said it was not yet possible to determine what kind of physical and psychological suffering Pike had experienced during the process. He said it may take several days before doctors can determine whether she will recover and what her longer-term condition might be.
Pike’s legal team issued a statement on Sunday asking the public to respect her privacy.
Demand for execution records
Pike’s execution was delayed by more than eight hours on September 30. Her lawyers had argued that the court should review whether her history of childhood sexual abuse had been properly considered in the death-penalty proceedings.
A lower court had issued a stay of execution, but the US Supreme Court later overturned the stay, allowing the execution attempt to proceed.
On Friday (October 2), Pike’s lawyers asked a court to order Tennessee prison authorities to preserve written records, communications, photographs and video related to the execution.
Ferrell told CNN that Tennessee authorities needed to be more transparent about what happened during the execution. He argued that the public has a right to know what the state does in its name.
Second failed execution in Tennessee this year
Pike’s case is the second failed execution in Tennessee this year.
In May, the state was unable to execute Tony Carathers after prison officials successfully established an IV line in his right arm but failed to establish a second line. The execution was subsequently halted.
Meanwhile, Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada has announced his resignation following the Pike case.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has ordered an independent investigation into the state’s execution procedures. Former US Attorney Ed Stanton will lead the review. Lee has also halted executions in Tennessee for the remainder of the year.
In 2022, Lee ordered another investigation after problems emerged during the execution process of a different inmate. That review found that state authorities had failed to properly follow their own procedures for administering lethal injections.
Since Pike was taken to hospital, Tennessee prison authorities and the state attorney general’s office have released limited information about her condition.
Uncertainty over what happens if Pike recovers
It also remains unclear what will happen to Pike’s death sentence if she recovers.
Her lawyers have asked the governor to commute her death sentence to life imprisonment. CNN reported that the state has not indicated whether it will seek another execution date.
Pike did not deny killing her 19-year-old classmate, Colleen Slemmer, in 1995. The two were students at a vocational training centre in Knoxville.
According to the indictment, Pike believed Slemmer was a romantic rival. Pike and her boyfriend took Slemmer to an isolated location, where they attacked her with a sharp cutting tool and struck her with a large piece of asphalt.
The brutality of the killing, the ages of those involved and the carving of a satanic symbol into the victim’s body drew widespread attention to the case.
