Christa Pike Regains Consciousness After Failed Execution in Tennessee
New York Times · LC · trust 51/100
The death row inmate in Tennessee received two doses of a lethal injection drug last week but lived. She was taken from the execution chamber in an ambulance.
Listen · 5:29 min Share full article Emergency vehicles arrive at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution after the execution of Christa Pike was halted. Credit... George Walker IV/Associated Press By Emily Cochrane
Ms. Pike continues to receive critical medical care at a Nashville hospital, the lawyers said. The prognosis remains unclear, they said, but they expect a long recovery.
“Christa is a survivor and will take recovery one day at a time,” the lawyers said.
Ms. Pike, 50, is believed to be the first person to have survived doses of a lethal injection drug. She has been hospitalized since the execution attempt on Sept. 30, after it became clear to witnesses that she was still breathing after two doses of pentobarbital, the drug used in lethal injection executions.
She had been unconscious and on a ventilator in recent days as medical staff members worked to rid her body of the drug. The lawyers pointedly noted that Ms. Pike, who they said had sustained burns and other injuries to her arm, remained handcuffed and shackled to her bed.
Ms. Pike’s lawyers are set to appear in court in Nashville on Wednesday as they push for transparency and details about what went wrong.
Ms. Pike had been on death row for three decades after a conviction for her role in the 1995 torture and murder of a classmate, Colleen Slemmer. Ms. Pike’s lawyers have renewed their plea for Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, to reconsider allowing her to serve the rest of her life in prison.
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