Death row inmate Christa Pike has regained consciousness after surviving a failed execution in Tennessee, with her attorney saying she remains “angry and confused” about what happened.
Pike, 50, was scheduled to be executed last week for the 1995 murder of her former classmate, Colleen Slemmer.
She was administered two doses of pentobarbital during the execution attempt but remained alive and was subsequently taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.
Her attorney, Randy Spivey, said Wednesday that Pike is conscious and understands that the state attempted to execute her.
Attorney Describes Pike’s Condition
Spivey said Pike is currently awake and able to speak only to a limited extent while receiving critical care at the hospital.
“She is angry and confused about everything right now,” he said.
“She is very aware that the state tried to execute her.”
Pike remains shackled to a hospital bed and is on a ventilator.
Her lawyers said she has developed pneumonia and a blood clot in one arm and is unable to swallow.
“She has a long road to recovery,” Spivey said.
He added that Pike cannot currently move either of her arms, which are severely swollen, leaving doctors uncertain about how much function she may eventually regain.
Victim’s Mother Reacts to Failed Execution
The failed execution has also left Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, struggling with the outcome.
Martinez was present at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville when the execution attempt took place.
She later described the procedure as “a mess” after Pike remained alive despite receiving the lethal injection.
“They went to try to execute her and she didn’t die,” Martinez told NBC News.
Her granddaughter, Morgan Seeley, said Martinez spent several days afterward unable to eat and struggling to speak through her tears.
“She wanted to get justice,” Seeley said.
“Pike serving, being in prison was not justice.”
When Martinez was asked what she wanted to happen to Pike following the failed execution, she gave a brief response.
“It doesn’t matter what I think. They’re going to do what they’re going to do,” she said.
Pike Convicted in Slemmer’s 1995 Murder
Pike has spent approximately 30 years on death row after being convicted of killing Slemmer, who was her classmate at Knoxville Jobs Corps.
According to evidence presented in the case, Pike and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, lured Slemmer into a wooded area in January 1995.
An accomplice, Shadolla Peterson, was acting as a lookout.
Investigators said Pike and Shipp tortured Slemmer before killing her.
Evidence showed that a pentagram was carved into the teenager’s chest, while investigators also said Pike removed part of Slemmer’s skull as a souvenir.
Slemmer attempted to escape during the attack but was captured again, with the torture continuing for between roughly 30 minutes and an hour, according to Pike’s own account.
Pike and Shipp were convicted of first-degree murder.
Pike received the death penalty, while Shipp was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole.
Tennessee Has No Clear Provision for a Failed Execution
Pike’s survival has raised a legal question because Tennessee law does not specifically provide for what should happen when a condemned prisoner survives an execution involving two doses of pentobarbital.
Governor Bill Lee has not responded to repeated requests from Pike’s lawyers and opponents of the death penalty asking him to commute her sentence to life imprisonment.
Lee, who is due to leave office later this month, has instead reaffirmed his support for capital punishment.
“My responsibility is to uphold the sentences that Tennessee juries have handed down, even when it’s difficult, and that is exactly what we intend to do in the days ahead,” Lee said.
The governor has also ordered an independent investigation into the execution attempt and cancelled Tennessee’s only other scheduled lethal injection for the remainder of the year.
Lawyers Seek Preservation of Execution Evidence
Pike’s legal team has been seeking to preserve evidence from the failed execution as they examine what went wrong.
Attorney Luke Ihnen told a court that the state had not promised Pike would not face another execution attempt.
“The state has made no promises that Ms Pike will not be subject to future execution,” Ihnen said.
He said the requested evidence could be important to any future legal challenge.
“We don’t know what they have, because they won’t tell us,” he said.
“We are frustrated that the information that the state has is repeatedly and deliberately secreted away.”
Assistant Attorney General John Ayers disputed that there was currently an execution order pending against Pike, pointing to Lee’s decision to pause further executions in Tennessee.
Ayers also said the Department of Corrections had preserved records and materials from the attempted execution, including log books, observation records, medical waste, drug products and electrocardiogram readouts.
Judge I’Ashea Myles subsequently ordered state officials to preserve additional materials, including syringes, drug packaging and lot numbers, catheters, intravenous lines and restraints used during the procedure.
Multiple IV Attempts Preceded Two Drug Doses
Pike’s attorneys have previously described serious difficulties during the execution, saying medical staff used at least seven needles while attempting to establish intravenous access.
Her lawyers said her arms became “swollen, burned, and blistered” during the procedure.
According to a motion filed in court, Pike at one point suggested where medical staff could try to establish an IV.
One needle was reportedly removed after becoming bent at a 90-degree angle.
The legal filing states that Pike was ultimately given two sets of syringes containing pentobarbital.
During the procedure, she could reportedly be heard crying, whimpering and breathing heavily.
At one point, Pike said: “My arm feels like it’s about to burst open.”
She also asked: “Does this happen like that?”
Lawyers Blame Problems With IV Lines
Pike’s attorneys have argued that problems with the intravenous lines prevented the pentobarbital from properly entering her bloodstream.
“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 lawyers wrote in their court filing.
They alleged that, rather than correcting the IV problem, the execution team prepared and administered a second set of pentobarbital syringes.
The governor’s independent investigation is examining the circumstances surrounding the failed execution.
