Christa Pike's lawyers issue update on her condition as she survives two lethal injections
Christa Pike's lawyers have issued an update after she was rushed to hospital following a failed execution attempt.
The 50-year-old 'remains critically ill' and is being treated at a hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, after being injected with two doses of pentobarbital during her scheduled execution on Wednesday (September 30).
Court documents filed by her attorneys today have confirmed she is currently on a ventilator, as they ask the state to preserve all evidence from the incident.
A statement from her attorneys, seen by seen by NBC News, read: “Christa remains critically ill and is receiving medical care for the devastating effects of Wednesday night’s events. She is critically ill, unconscious, intubated and receiving breathing assistance through a ventilator.”
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According to the filing, Pike is being treated for 'the serious effects of the pentobarbital administered during the execution attempt, including significant injuries to both arms'.
In the court filing, CBS News reports that Pike's attorneys said that the Tennessee Department of Correction IV team 'used at least seven needles to try to carry out the execution'.
During a press conference on Thursday, attorneys Stephen Ferrell and Randall Spivey detailed how the execution attempt went wrong.
Spivey, who was inside the room, recalled Pike stating she was in pain and that she felt like her arm was about to 'explode'.
The new filing states the procedure lasted longer than two hours.
Pike’s legal team filed emergency motions in multiple courts to halt the process before the prison finally called an ambulance.
The filing noted: “Even then, attorneys for the State of Tennessee argued that TDOC [The Tennessee Department of Correction] had no obligation to render life-saving care to Ms. Pike.”
The lawyers claim the recent filing “details the serious complications that occurred during the execution attempt, many of which Christa and her attorneys had warned the State and the courts about months earlier.”
Journalists inside the execution chamber reportedly recalled the convicted killer 'snoring loudly' for up to 40 minutes after she was administered the 'lethal' drug.
Gov. Lee has ordered an investigation into what happened. The Tennessee Department of Correction has insisted that they did everything correctly.
"The Tennessee Department of Correction followed every step of the State's lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General's Office," a spokesperson said.
"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."
Pike has been on death row for decades after being convicted of the premeditated murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995. An 18-year-old and her then-17-year-old boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp beat Slemmer for 30 minutes, and carved a pentagram into her chest before ending her life in January 1995.
Colleen Slemmer's mom, May Martinez, traveled all the way from Florida to Tennessee to witness the execution at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution.
Martinez previously stated she wanted the sentence carried out so her daughter could rest without constant reminders.
Pike would have been the first woman executed in the state in more than 200 years.
Topics: True crime, US News
Joe Yates