Tennessee corrections chief resigns over failed execution
Christa Pike remained unconscious on a ventilator in a Tennessee hospital following her failed execution last week, her attorney said Sunday, with her federal defender saying he was not aware of any prospect that Pike would ever regain consciousness.
Asked on CNN’s “State of the Union” whether the 50-year-old would ever regain consciousness, Assistant Federal Defender Stephen Ferrell said, “Not that I am aware of.”
Pike was scheduled to be executed Wednesday evening for a 1995 murder conviction at age 18. She is the only woman on Tennessee’s death row and was set to be the first woman executed by the state in more than 200 years.
She was administered two doses of pentobarbital, each intended to be lethal, as the state attempted to execute her Wednesday evening. She was then rushed to a hospital after she observed she was still alive, breathing and snoring. Ferrell told CNN on Sunday that doctors were still trying to clear the pentobarbital from Pike’s system.
Ferrell said Pike gave someone her medical power of attorney. “I’m not sure what all they may have told that person,” he said.
Tennessee authorities have not said if they plan to try to execute Pike again, and they have not offered an explanation for the failed attempt. “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.”
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has suspended executions for the rest of the year. Ferrell called on Lee to commute Pike’s death sentence to life imprisonment, “at the very least.”
Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada announced his resignation Saturday, calling the investigation into the failed execution “entirely appropriate and necessary.”
Ferrell said he had not seen Pike in the hospital.