Christa Pike has not regained consciousness since Tennessee’s failed attempt to execute her on September 30, her attorney said on October 4. The 50-year-old death row inmate remains in critical condition at a Nashville-area hospital and is on a ventilator.
Has Christa Pike regained consciousness?
No. Pike remains unconscious following the failed execution attempt, according to her attorney.
Pike's attorney Stephen Ferrell spoke on CNN's State of the Union with Jake Tapper on October 4.
He was asked if Pike had been conscious at any point since the execution attempt. "Not that I am aware of, no," Ferrell said.
Ferrell said he has not yet been able to see Pike. He said her condition "remains the same." Doctors are still working to clear the drugs from her system, he added.
"She's still in the hospital on a ventilator, critically ill," Ferrell told the outlet. “We don't really know the prognosis yet and may not know for several days.”
What happened to Pike's arms?
{{/usCountry}}What happened to Pike's arms?
{{/usCountry}}Pike was taken to a Nashville-area hospital on September 30 after getting two doses of pentobarbital. As per an emergency court motion filed on October 2, she was intubated, on a ventilator and unconscious. Both her arms were swollen, burned and blistered when she reached the hospital.
As per The New York Times, her lawyers said in a Friday court filing that she was still critically ill. They wrote: “Hospital staff are working to save Ms. Pike's life and to clear the pentobarbital from her system.”
In a separate statement, they said she is also being treated for "significant injuries to both arms."
Her lawyers say the IV lines were not placed properly. According to The Guardian, they allege this let the drug go into the tissue instead of her bloodstream, which badly hurt both arms.
Her lawyers have also asked a Nashville judge to order the state to preserve all prison records related to the execution attempt. They said the records could show evidence of “incompetent and reckless actions.” The records include the training and job records of the execution team, details about the medical equipment used and any “biological or chemical residue.”
Also read: Is Christa Pike still alive? Is she brain dead? Latest update on her condition and whereabouts
What went wrong during the execution?
Her attorney Randy Spivey said during an online news conference on October 1 that it took about an hour to place two IV lines. He said he saw at least seven needles used on Pike’s left arm, and one appeared to be bent when it was removed.
As per her attorneys, Pike could be heard crying, whimpering and breathing loudly. At one point, she said, "My arm feels like it's about to burst open," and later asked, "Does this happen like that?" Spivey said she was cooperative and at one point told the team, "please try here, please try here."
After the second injection, Spivey said he noticed Pike's right arm turning purple.
In their emergency motion, her lawyers wrote: "Apparently at no point did any member of the execution team realize that the IV lines were not correctly placed or that the veins had blown and that the pentobarbital was, in whole or in part, entering Ms. Pike's body." They added: "Instead of remedying this failure, TDOC elected to prepare a backup set of syringes (if they were not also prepared earlier that day) and then administered another lethal dose of pentobarbital."
Why did the execution fail?
It remains unclear exactly why the execution failed.
The Death Penalty Information Center said Pike appears to be the first known person to survive after execution drugs entered her body. However, it is still not clear how she survived.
Pike’s lawyers believe there was a problem with the IV lines. They said the drug may have entered the tissue in her arms instead of her bloodstream.
According to USA TODAY, Ferrell said he had not yet learned from doctors why Pike survived after receiving the execution drugs.
What happens next for Pike?
Ferrell said Sunday that it is too early to know what the future holds. "It remains to be seen what the future is," he said. "If she recovers - she may not fully recover."
He added, "And there may be issues about her competence. We just don't know any of this."
Ferrell said the Tennessee Attorney General's Office, which would usually ask for a new execution date, has "not given us any indication as to what their intentions will be."
He said Governor Bill Lee should commute Pike's death sentence to life in prison “at the very least.”
Lee has stopped all executions in Tennessee for the rest of the year and ordered an independent review, as per The Guardian.
Her competence could matter a lot if the state tries again, as per The New York Times. The US Supreme Court has said a person cannot be executed if they do not have a "rational understanding" of why they are being put to death.
Why was Pike on death row?
As per People, Pike was 18 when she, her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp and Shadolla Peterson left the Knoxville Job Corps Center with 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer on January 12, 1995. Slemmer was beaten and cut, and a pentagram was carved into her chest.
Pike was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and was sentenced to death. Shipp was convicted of the same charges and got a life sentence with a chance of parole, plus 25 years for conspiracy. Peterson pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact and got six years of probation.