Christa Pike Hospitalized in Critical Condition After Botched Execution
Lawyers for Christa Pike say she is unconscious on a ventilator with severe burns after multiple failed attempts to administer lethal injection.
Christa Pike is hospitalized in critical condition after a botched execution attempt that left her unconscious and on a ventilator with severely burned arms, according to her lawyers.
Pike, 50, was subjected to at least seven needle insertions on Wednesday as executioners attempted to administer two lethal doses of pentobarbital, her attorneys stated in an emergency motion filed Friday.
The motion seeks an order to preserve all evidence related to the Tennessee Department of Correction's failed execution.
According to the filing, Pike herself offered guidance to the IV team at one point, and one needle reportedly bent at a 90-degree angle upon removal. Lawyers stated that Pike was heard crying and whimpering throughout the procedure, and at one point remarked, "my arm feels like it's about to burst open." She also asked, "does this happen like that?"
As of Thursday night, Pike remained in intensive care at a Nashville-area hospital, intubated and on a ventilator, her attorneys reported.
Her legal team believes that problems with the IV lines caused the pentobarbital to be administered into her body rather than her bloodstream. The drug was compared to bleach or Drano by the lawyers. "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," the motion read.
Instead of addressing the apparent IV issue, the execution team reportedly prepared and administered a backup set of syringes, according to Pike's lawyers.
Luke Ihnen, an attorney for Pike with Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee, stated, "We are working closely with those closest to Christa to respect her wishes, safeguard her privacy and protect her rights as a patient during this extraordinarily difficult time. We ask that the public and the media respect that privacy as well."
Pike has been on death row for 30 years, convicted in the 1995 murder of her Knoxville Jobs Corp classmate Colleen Slemmer.