Christa Pike, the woman who survived a lethal injection attempt in Tennessee this week, remains critically ill—unconscious and on a ventilator—after receiving two doses of pentobarbital, her attorneys announced Friday.
Pike, 50, has spent decades on death row for a murder committed at 18. Had the execution succeeded Wednesday night, she would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in 200 years.
Her lawyers, Stephen Ferrell and Luke Ihnen, said Pike reported severe pain during the attempt, describing it as feeling like her arm was exploding. Witnesses heard her whimpering as the procedure unfolded. She sustained significant injuries to both arms and is receiving treatment for complications from the drugs.
Ferrell and Ihnen filed an emergency motion Friday asking Tennessee to preserve all evidence from the failed execution. The filing accuses the state Department of Correction of "inflicting cruel and unusual punishment on Ms. Pike through its deliberate indifference to her basic medical needs and reckless disregard of basic medical practices and their own lethal injection protocol."
The lawyers assert medical staff failed to follow fundamental procedures: ensuring needles were fresh, functional and correctly inserted. The state also ignored Pike's prior warnings about existing medical conditions that could complicate a lethal injection procedure, the motion states.
that no emergency medical oxygen was present in the execution room when complications arose. Medical personnel had to retrieve oxygen from another location during the attempt.
Randall Spivey, another of Pike's attorneys who witnessed the execution, recounted at a news conference Thursday Pike's expressions of agony, including her statement that her arm felt like it was about to explode.
The Tennessee Attorney General has not responded to requests for comment. A Department of Correction spokesperson said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
