Attorneys Say Christa Pike Is Eating And Moving After Failed Execution

Attorneys for Christa Pike have said she is making a “remarkable” recovery after surviving a failed execution in Tennessee last week. 

PBS News reports that Pike regained consciousness on Tuesday and was able to speak. As of Wednesday, she’s begun walking with assistance and eating again. Doctors say that Pike is still struggling with memory and focus, but it’s still too early to tell what long-term impact the failed execution will have on her.

Pike has been on Death Row since 1995 for the torture and murder of her classmate, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Last week, Pike was set to be the first woman executed in Tennessee in 200 years, but things did not go according to plan. 

Despite Pike expressing concerns about being killed through lethal injection due to a history of issues with intravenous drugs, Tennessee still went through with the process. Pike was still alive after the first injection and was wondering if her arm was supposed to feel burning. The executioners injected her with another dose of pentobarbital, which also didn’t kill her, and the execution was ended when Pike could be heard loudly snoring. 

“While her physical recovery has been remarkable, significant questions remain about the long-term effects of what she endured,” her attorneys said in Thursday’s statement. “Christa is dealing with the profound psychological trauma of having survived a failed execution, including the terror, pain, and uncertainty of believing she was about to die.”

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee canceled the remaining executions the state had scheduled and ordered an investigation into why Pike’s execution failed. Medical experts are looking into whether a problem with the IV line caused the drug to pool into her tissue and not enter her bloodstream. Pike’s attorneys wrote in a court filing this week that “apparently at no point did any member of the execution team realize that the IV lines were not correctly placed.”

Frank Strada, the former head of Tennessee prisons, resigned from his post shortly after the execution. NPR reports that Strada has a history of botched executions. He was forced to resign from his post in Arizona after Gov. Katie Hobbs launched an investigation into three failed executions overseen by Strada. 

Legally, Pike and the state of Tennessee are in unprecedented territory. Pike is the first person to survive an execution from drugs that were supposed to be lethal. Concerns remain that Pike’s Eighth Amendment rights were violated by cruel and unusual punishment. 

Pike’s attorneys have said they are working to convince Lee to commute Pike’s sentence from the death sentence to life without parole. “She should never be subjected to another execution attempt,” they said in the statement. May Martinez, Slemmer’s mother, has advocated for the state to see through the execution. Martinez told reporters after the execution that the state “still owes her.” 

While it’s understandable why she would feel that way, considering the pain her daughter went through in her last moments, the unprecedented nature of Pike’s situation may make it difficult for the state to see through another execution. 

SEE ALSO:

Tennessee Execution Fails After 2 Injections Of Lethal Drug

Christa Pike Awake And Speaking In Hospital After Failed Execution