Christa Pike is conscious and speaking in a Nashville hospital after surviving a failed lethal injection in Tennessee last week, her lawyers have said.
The 50-year-old death row inmate remains under guard and is receiving critical medical care after the execution attempt at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution on September 30. Her lawyers said her recovery was “medically unprecedented” and that her prognosis remained unclear.
Pike’s arms were swollen, burned and blistered when she arrived at hospital. She is still handcuffed and shackled to her bed, according to her legal team, which said she faced a lengthy recovery at a minimum.
What happened during the execution attempt?
The execution began at about 7.30pm, when Pike was given the opportunity to make a final statement before two doses of pentobarbital were administered.
Five minutes later, she raised her head and said that her arm was hurting. Journalists witnessing the procedure said a black curtain was drawn inside the death chamber while intravenous lines were inserted, in accordance with state regulations intended to conceal the identities of execution workers.
The media were escorted from the witness room at 8.53pm. An ambulance arrived at the prison at 9.14pm to take Pike to hospital.
The Death Penalty Information Center said Pike was the first inmate known to have survived after being injected with lethal doses of execution drugs.
Tennessee’s execution protocol provides for a second set of syringes containing pentobarbital if the condemned person does not die after the first dose. It does not set out what should happen if the person survives a second injection.
Why was Christa Pike sentenced to death?
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of her 19-year-old classmate, Colleen Slemmer, at a job training camp. She was 18 at the time and was convicted of taking part in the beating, torture and killing alongside her boyfriend.
The case has prompted debate about the death penalty for young offenders. Pike’s lawyers have cited her age, childhood sexual abuse and mental health problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder, in seeking clemency.
She would also have been the first woman executed by the state of Tennessee in more than 200 years.
What happens next?
Pike’s lawyers are due to appear in court seeking information from the Tennessee Department of Correction about the failed execution. They want the prison system ordered to preserve records and evidence including drug lot numbers, needles and execution logs.
Medical and lethal injection experts have said the intravenous line may have been incorrectly inserted, causing the drug to collect in tissue instead of entering the bloodstream. In a court filing, Pike’s lawyers alleged that no member of the execution team realised the lines were misplaced or that the veins had “blown”.
Before the execution attempt, her lawyers had asked for her sentence to be carried out by firing squad or hanging, citing her small veins and thrombocytosis, a blood-clotting condition they feared could make intravenous access difficult.
They are now calling for her death sentence to be commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole. It is unclear whether Tennessee could attempt to execute Pike again. Her lawyers have argued that a further attempt would amount to cruel and unusual punishment and could breach the prohibition on double jeopardy.
Republican Governor Bill Lee described the incident as “deeply disturbing” and ordered a comprehensive third-party review. He also postponed Tennessee’s only other execution scheduled for this year.
Frank Strada, the former commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction and prison chief at the time of the failed execution, has agreed to step down later this month. Senator Marsha Blackburn, the state’s Republican candidate to replace Mr Lee, has called for Tennessee to examine other execution methods so it can continue carrying out capital punishment.
