NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Christa Pike, the Tennessee death row inmate who survived a failed lethal injection last week, has regained consciousness and is now able to speak in limited amounts, one of her attorneys told a court Wednesday.
Pike, 50, was still unconscious until Tuesday, nearly six days after prison officials attempted to execute her on September 30. Her lawyers say her condition remains serious and that she faces a potentially lengthy recovery.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer.
During the September 30 execution attempt, officials administered two doses of pentobarbital, a lethal injection drug, but Pike survived. The Death Penalty Information Center says she is the only known person to survive after being administered lethal injection drugs during an execution.
At a court hearing in Nashville on Wednesday, Pike’s attorneys asked a judge to require the Tennessee Department of Correction to preserve evidence from the execution and provide more information about what went wrong.
Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles ordered the state to preserve evidence from the execution chamber, including recordings, witness accounts, emails, drugs, syringes, IV lines and other medical items.
Pike’s attorney, Luke Ihnen, told the court that her prolonged unconsciousness had prevented her legal team from communicating with her and obtaining her consent to pursue further legal action.
Her lawyers said Pike’s arms were burned and blistered following the attempted injection and that she remains handcuffed to her hospital bed. Her long term prognosis is still unclear.
Medical and lethal injection experts have raised concerns that a problem with the IV line may have prevented the drugs from entering Pike’s bloodstream properly, instead causing them to accumulate in surrounding tissue.
According to court filings by Pike’s attorneys, members of the execution team apparently failed to recognize that the IV lines were incorrectly placed or that the veins had failed.
The execution began at about 7:30 p.m. on September 30. Pike was given an opportunity to make a final statement before she reportedly complained that her arm was hurting. She later appeared to lose consciousness, while witnesses could still hear her breathing.
An ambulance arrived at the prison shortly after 9 p.m. and transported Pike to a hospital.
The failed execution has renewed debate over the use of lethal injection and how U.S. states conduct executions.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee described the incident as “deeply disturbing” and ordered a comprehensive independent review into what happened. The governor also postponed the state’s only other scheduled execution for this year.
Tennessee’s prison chief resigned following the failed execution.
During Wednesday’s hearing, the state argued that a court order to preserve evidence was unnecessary because materials from the execution chamber had already been collected and documented. Pike’s attorneys, however, sought broader protection of evidence, including drug lot numbers, needles, execution records and medical equipment.
Dr. Joel Zivot, an anesthesiology and surgery professor who has advised Pike’s legal team, said it could take weeks or even months before doctors know the full extent of her recovery.
It also remains unclear whether Pike will eventually regain sufficient competency for the state to attempt another execution.
