Attorneys for Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike say she is in critical condition, unconscious and breathing through a ventilator following a botched lethal injection attempt Wednesday night.
“Christa remains critically ill and is receiving medical care for the devastating effects of Wednesday night’s events. She is critically ill, unconscious, intubated and receiving breathing assistance through a ventilator,” lawyers for the convicted killer said in a statement Friday.
Pike, 50, also suffered injuries to her arms, which were left blistered, chemically burned and swollen following the attempt, they said.
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In a court motion filed to preserve evidence from the failed injection, her attorneys said “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,” according to The Tennessean.
Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, suspended all further execution attempts by the state for the remainder of the year and said the Tennessee Department of Corrections followed execution protocol correctly. He has called for an independent review of the incident.
Pike had complained about pain and a burning sensation in her arm during the attempt before losing consciousness.
Pike’s planned execution was delayed for hours because of a last-second federal court ruling that was then countermanded by the Supreme Court.
Workers had problems drawing blood from Pike and more issues setting an IV line to administer the injection. Randy Spivey, one of Pike’s attorneys, said he saw at least seven spots on her arms where needles had been put in and that at least one needle got bent in the process, according to The Associated Press.
Mr. Spivey and another attorney, Kelly Gleason, also said Pike had informed her executioners about potential problems they might have using intravenous methods on her. Pike has had trouble with blood draws throughout her life and has a blood disorder that makes it challenging to hook up an IV.
“We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms. Pike proved to be true: difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy,” the two attorneys said in a statement.
Mr. Spivey has called for Mr. Lee to commute Pike’s death sentence to life imprisonment, according to The New York Times.
Pike was convicted and sentenced in 1996 for the brutal 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer, a fellow classmate at the Knoxville Job Corps who Pike presumed to be a romantic rival.
She, her teenage boyfriend and another teen accomplice lured Slemmer into the woods in January 1995 so they could torture her to death.
Pike’s boyfriend, then-17-year-old Tadaryl Shipp, carved a pentagram into her chest while she was still alive. He was given a life sentence for the killing.
Pike delivered the fatal blow when she bashed Slemmer’s head in with a chunk of asphalt. Prosecutors said Pike then took a piece of Slemmer’s broken skull with her as a souvenir from the attack.
She was then convicted in 2001 of attempted first-degree murder for an assault of another prison inmate.
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