Christa Pike’s lawyers reveal her condition after ‘torturous’ execution attempt
Christa Pike remains in 'critical condition' and is 'receiving life-saving care' after surviving two lethal injection attempts.
The Tennessee death row inmate, 50, survived two rounds of of pentobarbital on Wednesday (30 September), and was subsequently hospitalised for life-saving medical care.
"We don't have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment," her lawyer Randy Spivey said during a news conference on Thursday.
"But we do know that that she is alive right now."
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Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said the investigation into Pike's botched execution 'will be thorough' and that 'it's going to take time'.
"There are a lot of questions," he said. "The people of our state deserve to have those questions answered, and that's what this investigation is for."
WPLN reporter Catherine Sweeney, who witnessed the execution attempt, revealed that Pike was still conscious after the attempt.
"They went through two rounds, and she was still breathing at the end, it was very ragged, she lifted her head up and was looking around at one point," she said.
"She said there was a spot that was burning and hurting and asked if that was normal. None of that was normal."
Pike stated beforehand: "I’m at peace, and I’m ready to go".
She also expressed messages of love and later complained of severe physical discomfort.
At the age of 18, she carried out what a judge called the ‘horrific’ and ‘brutal’ murder of Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville in 1995.
Pike and two friends lured the 19-year-old into the woods, where they beat, tortured, and killed her. Pike was sentenced to death when she was 20 a year later.
Tennessee Supreme Court docs obtained by news.com.au state that Pike ‘told her friend Kim Iloilo, who was also a student at the facility, that she intended to kill another student, Colleen Slemmer, because she 'had just felt mean that day'.
“Pike went to Iloilo’s room and told Iloilo that she had just killed Slemmer and that she had brought back a piece of the victim’s skull as a souvenir,” the documents state.
“Pike said that a pentagram had been carved onto the victim’s forehead and chest. Iloilo said that Pike was dancing in a circle, smiling, and singing ‘la, la, la’ while she related these details about the murder.
“When Iloilo saw Pike at breakfast the next morning she asked Pike what she had done with the piece of the victim’s skull. Pike replied that it was in her pocket and then said, ‘And, yes, I’m eating breakfast with it’.”
Pike's legal team argued that her death sentence was disproportionate due to her severe childhood trauma.
Anish Vij