Christa Pike Survives Botched Lethal Injection Attempt in Tennessee
Inmate in critical condition after execution team struggles for over an hour to find a viable vein for lethal injection.
Christa Pike remains in critical condition following two failed attempts at lethal injection Wednesday night at a Tennessee facility, her attorneys announced Thursday.
Execution staff spent more than an hour attempting to administer the lethal injection, using at least seven needles. According to her attorney, Randy Spivey, one needle had to be removed after it bent during the procedure. Stephen Ferrell, of the Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee, stated that Pike was cooperative and attempted to assist the executioners in locating a suitable vein.
"She over and over again said ‘Please try up on my shoulder higher. Please try here, I think it will be okay,’" Ferrell recounted.
Ferrell also suggested that Pike's history of sexual abuse may have made the prolonged and invasive procedure particularly traumatic for her. "That was her biggest fear as the survivor of sexual abuse, that she would be pinned down, prodded, poked, cut," he said.
Pike, who was convicted in the 1980s, is the first woman to be sentenced to death in Tennessee since 1917. Her case has drawn attention due to the circumstances of her conviction and the challenges in carrying out the execution.
