Christa Pike remains critically ill after failed Tennessee execution

Governor halts state executions through year; prison chief to resign

Christa Pike, the Tennessee death-row inmate whose execution failed Wednesday, remains critically ill on a ventilator in a Nashville hospital with an unclear prognosis, her lawyer said Sunday. Stephen Ferrell told CNN that doctors were still working to clear two doses of pentobarbital from her body and that the 50-year-old had not regained consciousness since the two injection attempts.

“She’s still in the hospital, on a ventilator, critically ill, we really don’t know the prognosis yet, and may not know for several days,” Ferrell said, speaking to CNN on Sunday morning. He added that he had been receiving updates through her medical power of attorney rather than consulting directly with doctors. He said he had not been in to see her. “She is guarded. I’m not sure who may have seen her,” he said.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee suspended all state executions for the remainder of the year, and the head of the state’s prison system announced his resignation on Saturday. Authorities have not said whether they will try again to execute Pike, and they have not offered an explanation for what went wrong during the procedure.

Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1995 torture-killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville, Tennessee, a crime she committed at age 18 alongside her then-boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp. The case drew a media frenzy at the time, and Pike has been on death row for more than three decades, the bulk of it in solitary confinement, according to her lawyer.

Ferrell called on the governor to commute her death sentence to a life sentence “at the very least.” “She has endured a torturous attempt at executing her,” Ferrell said. “She’s spent over 30 years in prison, most of that in solitary confinement.” He added: “We don’t know right now — and we may never know — what sort of torture she endured during [her failed execution].”

Pike’s lawyers had previously warned that her medical history and anatomy — including thrombocytosis, a blood-clotting condition, and small veins — could cause her to experience “unnecessary” pain and suffering during a lethal injection. The Tennessee Department of Correction has defended its use of lethal injections, stating that “the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out.”

Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, traveled to Nashville for the execution, which proceeded despite last-minute legal challenges. Martinez, who supported Pike’s death sentence, told local outlet WJXX that she “broke down in tears” after learning the execution had not been successful. “I think that the state owes me a big apology,” she said, according to the WJXX account.

Ferrell raised the possibility that even if Pike were to recover, questions of competence could complicate any future proceedings. “If she recovers — she may not fully recover — and there may be issues about her competence. I mean, we just don’t know any of this,” Ferrell said. “We have had no discussions about this. The Tennessee attorney general’s office so far has not given us any indications of what their intentions will be.”