Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike is awake and speaking at a hospital, her lawyers said Tuesday, six days after a failed lethal injection left her unconscious and on a ventilator.Pike, 50, survived two doses of pentobarbital during the September 30 execution attempt over the 1995 beating and stabbing death of her classmate Colleen Slemmer.The lethal injection did not kill her, and her lawyers said her arms were left burned and blistered.She was subsequently taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for treatment, according to news agency AP.Her attorneys said her prognosis remains unclear and that she faces a long recovery.“Against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care,” her lawyers said in a statement. “Despite the severe damage she endured to her arms, she is still handcuffed and shackled to the bed. Her recovery is medically unprecedented.”The attorneys also thanked first responders and the hospital medical team for treating Pike and providing care.
Doctors say recovery could take months
Pike’s latest condition marks the first indication that her health has improved since the failed execution. As recently as Sunday, her attorneys said she remained unconscious and on a ventilator.Dr Joel Zivot, a professor of anaesthesiology and surgery in Atlanta who consulted as an expert for Pike’s legal team, said the development “bodes well for a good recovery”.However, Zivot said it could take weeks or months to determine the extent of Pike’s recovery and whether her competency could be restored to a level that could allow the state to attempt another execution.“She’s still in the ICU,” he said. “She has recovered to a certain degree that she’s able to be off a ventilator and able to speak, but in no way would I announce her free of further serious risk. There’s still a lot of bad things that can happen here, even when everyone is doing their job well.”A spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Correction said the department could provide no information other than that Pike remained hospitalised on Tuesday.
Lawyers seek records from failed execution
Pike’s attorneys are due in court on Wednesday as they seek information about what happened during the failed lethal injection.They are asking for a court order requiring the Tennessee Department of Correction to preserve evidence from the September 30 execution attempt, including drug lot numbers, records and other information.Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles has scheduled a status conference for Wednesday morning.Pike’s lawyers are also continuing to ask outgoing Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute her death sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.“Christa is a survivor and will take recovery one day at a time,” her attorneys said.Lee halted further executions following Pike’s hospitalisation and ordered a “comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred”.US Senator Marsha Blackburn, the state’s Republican candidate to replace Lee, has called on Tennessee to explore other execution methods to ensure it can continue carrying out capital punishment.
Legal questions over another execution attempt
Pike’s survival has raised questions over whether Tennessee could attempt to execute her again, including issues surrounding her competency and constitutional protections.Deborah Denno, a Fordham Law professor who has studied execution methods for 36 years, said Pike has strong arguments that another attempt could constitute cruel and unusual punishment. She also said a second attempt could raise double-jeopardy concerns.In previous cases, states have been allowed to make another execution attempt after failing to establish a suitable intravenous line. Denno said Pike’s case is different because she survived after the lethal drug had actually been administered.“They carried out every aspect of the execution,” Denno said. “She didn’t die, but every process they intended, they did it.”Seattle University Law Professor Michael Russo, who has handled capital cases as a public defender in Los Angeles, said the failed execution was horrible but questioned whether the US Supreme Court would prevent Tennessee from trying again on double-jeopardy grounds.“There’s nobody else in the history of the death penalty in this country who has gone through what she’s been through,” Russo said. But he added, “I think what this Supreme Court would say is, her sentence was to die — to be executed — not to suffer an attempt at execution.”
