Christa Pike is still alive as of Thursday afternoon and is in critical condition, her attorneys confirmed during a virtual press conference.
Christa Pike is still alive as of Thursday afternoon and is in critical condition, her attorneys confirmed during a virtual press conference.
“Christa is alive right now,” Randy Spivey of the Tennessee Office of the Post-Conviction Defender said during the virtual press conference around 1 p.m. “We don't have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment, but, we do know that that she is alive right now and receiving lifesaving medical care.”
Spivey says Pike's legal team warned the state of existing medical conditions that would cause her an "agonizing death." Pike had previously explained she had issues with blood draws throughout her life due to a blood disorder and feared "a prolonged, painful, traumatic death."
Spivey says the execution team tried to establish an IV line for an hour and he counted at least seven needles used in her left arm alone. He adds this execution was "unprecedented."
“Christa has endured punishment greater than any other person in the history of the American death penalty,” Spivey adds.
Her legal team previously requested a different method of execution, such as hanging, and only supported lethal injection "if and only if a central line can be placed by a qualified medical professional."
When Steve Farrell of the Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee was asked if the state would consider another form of execution in the future, he said "And I will say that the electric chair is an option on the books at this time."
Both Farrell and Spivey expressed frustration from what they say was a lack of transparency during the execution attempt. Between roughly 8:25 p.m. and 8:50 p.m. Wednesday, the curtain was closed to the public and media despite the protocol allowing a five-minute waiting period to check vitals. It was not until around 8:50 p.m. that Farrell says they were notified that an ambulance arrived to transport Pike to the hospital.
"No one knew what was going on behind that curtain," the attorney said.
On Wednesday, Sept. 30, Pike was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 10 a.m. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily paused the execution that morning, but the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the temporary stay by Wednesday afternoon.
As of late Wednesday night, Tennessee officials announced they were unable to carry out the execution after two doses of pentobarbital were administered, according to The Associated Press. The latest statement from the Tennessee Department of Correction says Pike was transported to an off-site medical facility.
Thirty-one years ago, then 18-year-old Pike, admitted to luring Colleen Slemmer, 19, into a wooded area in Knoxville before beating and stabbing her to death. Pike's reported motive was jealousy over a boyfriend. The victim's mother, May Martinez, said she believes Pike should be held accountable for Slemmer's death.
