Tennessee governor halts executions, orders third-party review
Christa Pike, the Tennessee death row inmate who survived a botched execution attempt last week after receiving two doses of the sedative pentobarbital, is conscious and speaking at a hospital where she is being treated, her attorneys said Tuesday.
Pike, 50, was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of Colleen Slemmer. Her attorneys said her prognosis is still unclear and her recovery will be a long one. She is handcuffed and shackled to the bed, they said.
“We are incredibly grateful to the first responders and the medical team at the hospital who treated Christa like a human and have provided exceptional care to her,” the attorneys said in a statement.
Her condition had been largely unknown since an ambulance took her to the hospital from a Nashville prison following the botched execution attempt. Pike received two doses of pentobarbital, a sedative that at least 17 states use for capital punishment. Officials halted the procedure and transferred her to a hospital because she remained alive after the injections.
The Tennessee Department of Correction said the agency followed established protocol and that the drug has “consistently been effective.” The department declined to answer questions about where the drug was sourced.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee halted executions in the state after the failed attempt. Lee said he had directed “a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred.”
Pike’s attorneys had previously warned the court that her small veins made it likely she would experience unnecessary suffering and terror from lethal injections. Her legal team has called on the governor to commute her death sentence.