Christa Pike, the Tennessee inmate who survived a botched execution attempt, remains in critical condition and on a ventilator, according to her lawyer, who is calling for her death sentence to be changed to life imprisonment.
Pike, 50, was still receiving treatment in hospital on Sunday after surviving two attempts to administer a lethal dose of pentobarbital, a drug that suppresses activity in the nervous system.
Her case has drawn renewed attention to the death penalty in the United States, particularly questions surrounding execution procedures and the methods used to carry out capital punishment.
Pike’s lawyer, Stephen Ferrell, said doctors were still treating her while she remained under security at the hospital.
“She’s still in the hospital on a ventilator, critically ill,” Ferrell said.
He added that doctors had not yet determined how she would recover from the failed execution.
“We don’t really know the prognosis yet and may not know for several days,” he said.
Ferrell said he had not been allowed to see his client and that medical personnel were continuing efforts to remove the drug from her system.
Lawyer Calls for Death Sentence to Be Commuted
Ferrell urged Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to intervene and commute Pike’s death sentence to life imprisonment.
“I think, at the very least, the governor should commute Ms Pike’s death sentence to a life sentence,” he said.
The lawyer said Pike had already spent more than three decades behind bars, much of that time in solitary confinement, and argued that the failed execution had subjected her to further suffering.
“We don’t know what her physical state will be, but it is clear that she has endured a torturous attempt at executing her,” Ferrell said.
He added that the circumstances surrounding the failed execution could leave unanswered questions about what Pike experienced during the process.
“I think she’s spent over 30 years in prison, most of that in solitary confinement, only to be taken out and not executed, but tried to execute her,” he said.
“And that we don’t know right now, and we may never know what sort of torture she endured during that process.”
Witnesses Heard Pike Snoring After Injection
The failed execution has also raised questions about what happened inside the execution chamber.
Media witnesses reportedly heard Pike snoring for about an hour after the injections were administered.
They said she was still alive when they were escorted out of the viewing area at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.
The development led to the resignation of Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada on Saturday.
In his resignation statement, however, Strada defended the department’s handling of the execution.
“The Department carried out its responsibilities in accordance with the established protocol,” he said.
Governor Lee, who had previously rejected Pike’s request for clemency, has since halted further executions in Tennessee for the remainder of the year while an independent third-party review is conducted.
Pike Was 18 When She Committed Murder
Pike’s case has also renewed debate over the death penalty for offenders who were very young when they committed their crimes.
She was 18 when she and her boyfriend attacked and killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer at a job training camp in 1995.
Pike’s legal team had previously sought clemency, pointing to her age at the time of the crime, a history of childhood sexual abuse and mental health difficulties, including post-traumatic stress disorder.
Her failed execution has now placed renewed focus on both her medical condition and the wider debate over capital punishment in the United States.
Source: AFP.
