Death Row Inmate Christa Pike Back in Prison After Surviving Lethal Injection
Christa Pike, 50, survived two lethal injections during a failed Tennessee execution on 30 September. She has now been discharged from hospital and returned to prison custody.
Death row inmate back in custody after botched Tennessee execution
Christa Pike, 50, has been discharged from hospital and returned to prison following a failed execution attempt on 30 September, her legal representatives confirmed on Saturday, Dublin Live reports. Pike is now back at the Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation Centre, the women's prison where she has spent three decades on death row, and remains under medical supervision.
Her solicitors issued a statement: "She is grateful to the first responders and her medical team for their care in these extraordinary circumstances. She is continuing to receive medical care at the prison, and we will continue to track her recovery."
Pike was originally sentenced to death for the 1995 beating and stabbing of fellow student Colleen Slemmer. The state of Tennessee administered two doses of pentobarbital during the execution attempt before the procedure was abandoned.
She had been hospitalised since the botched attempt, at one point placed on a ventilator while her legal team feared the worst. She subsequently regained consciousness and, with support, began speaking and moving.
According to the Death Penalty Information Centre, Pike is the first person to survive after lethal injection drugs were administered during an execution procedure. Tennessee's Department of Correction has not yet explained what went wrong.
Medical professionals and lethal injection specialists have been investigating whether a fault with the intravenous line caused the drug to accumulate in surrounding tissue rather than entering the bloodstream. Court documents filed by Pike's legal team state that "apparently at no point did any member of the execution team realise that the IV lines were not correctly placed."
When the procedure began, Pike was invited to make a final statement, and responded that she felt at peace. Approximately five minutes later, she raised her head and said her arm was hurting. She then appeared to lose consciousness but could be heard breathing with difficulty until journalists observing the execution were escorted from the witness area — nearly 90 minutes after proceedings had started. She was subsequently transported by ambulance to hospital.
Questions remain over what happens next. Tennessee is due to elect a new governor in November, with Republican candidate Marsha Blackburn currently leading in polling ahead of incumbent Bill Lee's departure at the end of his second term.
Blackburn has already called for the electric chair to be used in place of lethal injection following the failed attempt. Addressing Pike's situation directly, she said: "While there should be a thorough review of what happened and why the process failed, the answer is simple: bring back the electric chair and deliver justice for these victims swiftly."
It remains unclear whether Tennessee will schedule a second execution attempt for Pike.
Source: Dublin Live