Christa Pike, now off the ventilator but experiencing temporary confusion: New details on her recovery following the failed execution
The woman was rushed to the hospital after receiving two supposedly lethal doses of pentobarbital on Sept. 30 at Riverbend Prison in Nashville, but she survived the injections.
A lethal injection table in the execution chamber—File photo
Christa Pike, 50, is conscious and speaking at a Nashville, Tenn., hospital nearly a week after surviving a botched execution attempt, her lawyers announced Tuesday.
"Against all odds"
Her attorneys Randy Spivey, Kelly Gleason, Stephen Ferrell, and Luke Ihnen stated in a press release: "Against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking and continues to receive critical medical care."
An anesthesiologist and intensive care physician hired by Pike's lawyers as a medical expert, Joel Zivot, confirmed to the BBC that Pike has been taken off the ventilator and that "she has some memories of being in the hospital but no memory, I believe, of the execution attempt."
Zivot explained that Pike knows her name but believes it is currently September, and cautioned that although she has improved enough to speak, "I would not, in any way, say at this point that all the big risks are behind her."
Serious injuries and uncertain recovery
Christa Pike was rushed to the hospital after receiving, on Sept. 30, two supposedly lethal doses of pentobarbital at Riverbend Prison in Nashville, but she survived the injections.
At first, she was in critical condition, unconscious and on a ventilator. According to her attorneys, her arms turned purple during the execution and she felt a burning sensation. Zivot interprets these signs as an indication that some of the pentobarbital entered the tissue of her arms rather than her bloodstream, due to a failure of the intravenous lines.
"Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery," said her attorneys, who renewed their plea to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute Pike's sentence to life in prison.
Despite the severe injuries to her arms, Pike remains handcuffed and shackled to her hospital bed, according to her attorneys.
Independent investigation and resignation of prison chief
Governor Lee suspended executions in Tennessee pending an independent investigation, and the state's prison chief announced his resignation.
Laura Porter, executive director of the U.S. Campaign to Abolish the Death Penalty, welcomed the third-party investigation and the resignation, but noted: "This has occurred before and the state did not follow the recommendations made."
"It is essential that the execution process no longer be shrouded in secrecy," Porter added.
First woman on death row to survive lethal injection
Pike was sentenced to death for the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, committed when she was 18 at a job training camp in 1995. The case gained national attention after Slemmer's body was found with a pentagram carved into her chest.
She would have been the first woman executed by the state of Tennessee in more than 200 years.
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