Here's why Christa Pike is still receiving life-saving medical care after her failed execution
Christa Pike, 50, was convicted of murder in 1995 and sentenced to death. But on the day of her execution, she ended up on life support in the hospital.
Pike was supposed to be executed at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tennessee, on Sept. 30. But the two doses of lethal injection drugs did not kill her. Instead, she was left unconscious with "swollen, burned, and blistered" arms, according to her lawyers.
Following the failed execution attempt, Pike was brought to an offsite hospital. Her lawyer Stephen Ferrell said Pike remains unconscious and is receiving life-saving medical care.
Constitutional attorney David Raybin, quoted by Fox 17 News, said the hospital is keeping Pike alive because her sentence has to be carried out in prison, as dictated by Tennessee law.
"The death sentence was imposed by a court, but it was to be done at the prison. They cannot 'execute' her at a hospital by removing her life support. That would be murder," Raybin said, adding that taxpayers are paying for Pike's stay in the hospital.
"It could be thousands of thousands of dollars but that's attributable to the failure of the state to carry out the execution in an inappropriate manner," Raybin continued.
One way out of the situation would be for the Department of Correction to require Pike's family or her medical representative to end her life support. Under the circumstances, Raybin said, a judge may grant it.
In an audio recording obtained by The New York Times, Pike said a botched execution was the worst that could happen. She spoke about another Tennessee death penalty inmate Tony Carruthers, whose execution was called off after the execution team could not find a viable vein for his IV line.
"The concerns I have on our lethal injection method are simply that I do not have good veins, and I'm worried about our physician not being qualified to start a central line on me," Pike said in the clip. "Tony Carruthers lived out my worst nightmare. Detail for detail."
She also shared about her worry that the drugs in the lethal injection "burns very bad."
"That sounds scary to me because they used the word Drano in speaking about this drug, and the thought of suffocating and drowning on my own bodily fluid and blood isn't very appealing to me," Pike said.
Her lawyers say she is currently hooked up to a ventilator and "may never recover," said Farrell.
In January 1995, Pike, then 18, was found to have tortured and killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Pike also took a piece of Slemmer's skull.
Pike's then-boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, as well as a second accomplice, were also convicted of the crime. Shipp received a life sentence without parole.
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