US death row inmate Christa Pike taken to hospital after surviving two lethal injections, says lawyer
Christa Pike taken to hospital after Tennessee execution attempt fails to stop her heart
Ninoda.com – Christa Pike, the only woman held on Tennessee’s death row, was taken to an off-site hospital after an attempted execution involving two doses of pentobarbital did not result in her death, her legal team said.
Pike, 50, lost consciousness during the procedure at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on Wednesday evening, but her heart was still beating, lawyers said in an emergency court filing. Her attorneys sought an immediate halt to the execution and requested medical intervention while the procedure was underway.
“Ms Pike has lost consciousness and still has a heartbeat and is audibly snoring.”
One of Pike’s lawyers said she was receiving life-saving treatment after two syringes of pentobarbital had been administered. A federal judge noted in a subsequent ruling that medical staff had begun providing the care requested by her lawyers.
Emergency legal action during procedure
The execution began at about 20:00 local time. Witness-room curtains were closed twice during the process, and media representatives were later asked to leave. The unusual sequence raised immediate questions about whether the state’s lethal-injection protocol had worked as intended and whether adequate emergency medical support was available.
Pike’s legal team argued that the episode confirmed concerns it had raised before the execution. In a statement, the lawyers cited problems including difficult vein access, damaged veins, concerns about the condition of pentobarbital and the lack of emergency medical care if complications occurred.
“Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution.”
The Tennessee Department of Correction defended its handling of the attempted execution. Department spokesperson Dorinda Carter said officials followed the state’s established protocol, which had been approved by the attorney general’s office. She said the protocol did not permit extra procedures beyond those already carried out and confirmed that Pike had been moved to a medical facility.
“The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective, and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out this evening. Christa Pike has been transported to an off-site medical facility.”
Medical concerns after two doses
Dr Joel Zivot, a professor at Emory University School of Medicine who was retained by Pike’s legal team as a medical expert, said the available details suggested she may not have reached a blood concentration of pentobarbital high enough to cause apnoea and cardiovascular failure.
He also warned that any delay in resuscitation could have serious consequences.
“It’s very possible that as a consequence of the delay of the beginning of resuscitation she will have a brain injury.”
The incident places renewed attention on the practical and medical questions surrounding lethal injections. Execution protocols depend on intravenous access and on the delivery of drugs in a manner intended to cause death. Problems with access to veins, drug delivery or monitoring can turn a planned procedure into a medical emergency, while the secrecy that often surrounds the sourcing and handling of execution drugs can make independent scrutiny difficult.
Conviction and long-running appeals
Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Pike was 18 when she, along with her then-boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, beat, tortured and killed Slemmer after meeting her at a job-training camp for troubled teenagers.
Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, had said she wanted the execution to proceed. She described continuing to think about her daughter’s suffering and the violence she endured.
“Every time I think about it, I think about Colleen feeling that pain and trying to get up and run.”
In the days and hours before the planned execution, Pike’s lawyers mounted several legal challenges. The US Supreme Court rejected two separate efforts to prevent the lethal injection. Late on Wednesday, the court overturned a reprieve issued earlier that day by a lower court, which had said it required more time to consider the arguments raised in Pike’s case.
One appeal focused on evidence concerning Pike’s childhood. Her defence argued that jurors who imposed the death sentence had not been given an opportunity to consider mitigating evidence related to documented sexual abuse. For years, her lawyers said, Tennessee had challenged her account of abuse. During a more recent hearing on the method of execution, however, the state said it did not dispute that Pike had experienced sexual abuse and rape.
Tennessee’s governor also denied Pike’s clemency request this week. In her petition, Pike said she had intended to beat Slemmer but not to kill her, and described herself at the time as a mentally ill teenager unable to stop what was happening.
“I was a mentally ill 18-year-old kid.”
Pike said it took her many years to understand the full gravity of the crime and its impact on others. The failed execution attempt now leaves major unanswered questions about her medical condition, the legal consequences of the procedure and whether Tennessee will seek to carry out another execution attempt.
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