Pike “up and walking” Thursday, attorney says; was declared brain dead Monday
A judge ruled Wednesday that Tennessee must preserve all evidence from the botched execution of Christa Pike. Pike’s attorneys argued for the order, saying the evidence would be relevant if the state tries to execute her again. The prosecutor argued there is no “imminent execution” planned for Pike. Defense lawyer Luke Ihnen said there is “no guarantee” the state will not attempt a new execution.
Pike’s attorney, Assistant Federal Defender Stephen Ferrell, said Thursday that she is “up and walking” for the first time since the failed Sept. 30 execution, just over a week after she was administered two lethal injections. Pike, 50, was declared brain dead on Monday before she began waking up and speaking on Tuesday.
“What’s been described to me is that physically there’s quite a bit going on, that her arms are very injured and she’s not able to use them very much,” Ferrell said. “She is up and walking for the first time today, but just around the room, not very far.”
According to Ferrell, the legal team is seeking psychology support for Pike. He said her mental state is “kind of good and bad. Good that she is fairly with it, but she’s also somewhat foggy. She can lose her train of thought really easily and forgets where she’s going.”
On whether Pike will fully recover, Ferrell said: “I assume [Pike’s condition] will keep improving, but there could be some permanent damage. We don’t know that yet.”
Pike was the first woman the state of Tennessee has tried to execute in more than 200 years, when she was strapped to a gurney at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville and given two doses of pentobarbital, each intended to be lethal. Media witnesses reported the execution was abnormal and took longer than expected. Pike lived through both injections and was observed snoring and breathing before being rushed to a hospital in critical condition and unconscious.
Pike was convicted in 1996 of murdering 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow Job Corps student, in January 1995. In the years since, her defense team argued that her trial lawyers failed to adequately present mitigating evidence of her mental health conditions and her history of childhood sexual abuse, rape and neglect.