Christa Pike's Question After Botched Execution Shocks Witnesses
Witnesses recount the harrowing moments of a near-fatal botched execution of Christa Pike, who asked if her pain was normal after a second dose of lethal injection failed to stop her breathing.
Media witnesses to the botched execution of Christa Pike described how the condemned inmate asked if the pain she was experiencing was normal after a second round of a lethal drug cocktail was administered. Pike, who was scheduled to be the first woman executed in Tennessee in over 200 years, reportedly survived a double dose of the sedative Pentobarbital. The execution was ultimately halted.
Witnesses at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution reported that Pike lifted her head and appeared to be looking around at one point. Catherine Sweeney of WPLN recounted at a press briefing, "She said there was a spot that was burning and hurting and asked if that was normal. None of that was normal."
Pike, 50, was strapped to the gurney shortly after the Supreme Court overturned a stay of execution. According to Sweeney, who has covered numerous executions, "They did two separate rounds of pentobarbital – which I’ve never seen before – the protocol does say that they should do a second round if the person is still alive." Sweeney added that "When they told us to leave at 8:53 Christa Pike was still breathing."
Another witness, Tori Gessner of WKRN, reported hearing Pike say, "My arm feels like it’s about to bust. One spot is really throbbing."
Pike was transported to a nearby hospital for medical attention. Lawyers for Pike stated she was "being provided life-saving measures." A doctor consulted by Pike's legal team suggested that the delay in resuscitation could have caused brain damage. "It’s very possible that as a consequence of the delay of the beginning of resuscitation she will have a brain injury," said Dr. Joel Zivot, a professor at the Emory University School of Medicine.
Pike was convicted of a 1995 murder where she lured a romantic rival to a wooded area, tortured her with a box cutter, carved a pentagram into her chest, and then killed her by smashing her head with a piece of asphalt. She reportedly kept a piece of the victim's skull as a souvenir.