Christa Pike’s Attorney Gives Update After Botched Lethal Injections [WATCH]

Randy Spivey, one of Christa Pike’s lawyers with the Tennessee Office of the Post-Conviction Defender, said her legal team had little information about her prognosis following Tennessee’s failed execution attempt.

“We don’t have much sense of her prognosis, but we do know that she is alive right now and receiving lifesaving medical care,” Spivey said during a virtual press conference.

Spivey called on Gov. Bill Lee to commute Pike’s death sentence immediately. He argued that “Christa has endured punishment greater than any other person in the history of the American death penalty.”

Another attorney told TMZ, “Christa is critically ill but not in a coma as I understand it.” WSMV reported that Pike was receiving care at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Gold. Upgraded. Buy real gold from $1. Store it in America. Sell it with one click.

The Tennessee Department of Correction confirmed only that Pike had been transported to a medical facility away from the prison after the botched attempt. The failed execution occurred late Wednesday night at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution.

Pike, 50, was scheduled to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. She received the death penalty for the 1995 torture and murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville.

A federal appeals court granted a stay roughly one hour before the original 10 a.m. execution time. The U.S. Supreme Court lifted that stay later in the day, and Tennessee attempted to carry out the execution that evening.

At about 8 p.m. Central Time, executioners administered two syringes of pentobarbital under Tennessee’s single drug protocol. Court filings from Pike’s attorneys said she did not lose consciousness and continued to have a heartbeat.

This Could Be the Most Important Video Gun Owners Watch All Year

The filings also said Pike was audibly “snoring.” Media witnesses described her raising her head, asking whether the pain and burning in her arm were normal, and kicking hard enough to knock away the sheet.

Witnesses said Pike continued snoring loudly after officials closed the curtains. They were escorted from the area while she was still breathing.

The customary witness press conference outside the prison was interrupted when ambulances arrived to take Pike to a hospital. Her attorneys filed emergency motions asking courts to stop the procedure and require medical care.

The legal team includes Spivey, Kelly Gleason, Stephen Ferrell, and Luke Ihnen. In their court filing, the attorneys said Pike was experiencing “unnecessary agony.”

“Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution,” the attorneys said in a joint statement. They cited difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, a lack of available emergency medical care, and secrecy surrounding the protocol.

WATCH:

The Tennessee Department of Correction responded that its staff followed every part of the protocol approved by the attorney general’s office. Officials said the chemical “has consistently been effective” and maintained that the protocol did not permit further procedures beyond those already performed.

A federal judge noted that Pike was already receiving medical care. The incident marked Tennessee’s second failed lethal injection attempt this year.

In May, Dr. Mark Fowler, the same physician who attempted to execute Pike, could not establish IV access on Tony Carruthers after trying for more than an hour. Lee later granted Carruthers a one-year reprieve.

Pike’s lawyers had argued for months that her small veins and thrombocytosis, a blood condition, would make normal IV access difficult and increase the procedure’s pain. Their requests for an alternative method were denied.

Lee ordered a “comprehensive, third-party review” and said Tennessee’s only other scheduled execution this year would not proceed. Gary Wayne Sutton had been scheduled for execution on December 3.

Pike’s execution warrant expired at midnight. The Tennessee Supreme Court would have to establish another date before the state could make a new attempt.

Pike was 18 when she and two other people lured Slemmer, a fellow Job Corps student, to a remote location. They beat and stabbed her, carved a pentagram into her chest, and Pike kept part of the victim’s skull as a trophy.

Pike was convicted and sentenced to death in 1996, becoming the only woman on Tennessee’s death row. Her attorneys have argued that childhood sexual abuse, bipolar disorder, and PTSD were not adequately explained during her trial and justify a new sentencing.

Gold is the oldest answer. SoundMoney makes owning it as easy as the apps you already use.

The opinions expressed by contributors and/or content partners are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of LifeZette. Contact us for guidelines on submitting your own commentary.