From BBC News · · 2m
Christa Pike walks after botched execution
The Tennessee death row inmate survived two lethal injections on September 30th and is now recovering in hospital, in what experts say is unprecedented.
In brief
The Tennessee death row inmate survived two lethal injections on September 30th and is now recovering in hospital, in what experts say is unprecedented. Christa Pike survived a lethal injection execution attempt in Tennessee on September 30th, an unprecedented outcome that has triggered a court order to preserve…
Pike survives execution attempt
Christa Pike, fifty, survived two lethal injections on September thirtieth in Tennessee. Experts say this is unprecedented. She is now in hospital recovering.
The crime that led to death row
Pike was eighteen when she and her then-boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, seventeen, beat, tortured and killed nineteen-year-old Colleen Slemmer in nineteen ninety-five. They met Slemmer at a job training camp for troubled teens.
Pike now walking in hospital
Lawyer Stephen Ferrell told BBC Radio four's Today programme that Pike is up and walking around her hospital room for the first time, though still mentally foggy and unable to use her arms much.
“She is up and walking for the first time today, but just around the room, not very far.”
Recovery from pentobarbital overdose
Pike received two doses of the drug pentobarbital during the scheduled execution on September thirtieth. She was initially unconscious and in critical condition but is now fairly well, though experiencing ongoing after-effects.
Permanent damage remains unknown
Ferrell said much remains unknown about Pike's long-term recovery. Her legal team wants her to receive psychological support and opposes any new execution attempt using the same injection method.
“I assume [the situation for Pike] will keep improving, but there could be some permanent damage. We don't know that yet.”
Court orders evidence preserved
A court ordered Tennessee to preserve all evidence from the failed execution, including IV lines, syringes, packaging and documentation of Pike's psychological condition. This could lay groundwork for a future lawsuit.
Calls to commute or change method
Pike's legal team is calling on Governor Bill Lee to downgrade her sentence to life in prison without parole. Capital punishment proponents suggest using a different execution method, with Senator Marsha Blackburn saying bring back the electric chair.
“Bring back the electric chair.”
Tennessee pauses all executions
Governor Bill Lee has ordered a pause on all executions in Tennessee for the rest of the year and wants answers about what went wrong. The state's prisons chief is resigning after the failed execution.
The short version
Christa Pike survived a lethal injection execution attempt in Tennessee on September 30th, an unprecedented outcome that has triggered a court order to preserve evidence and calls for a policy review.
