Christa Pike’s lawyer reveals new details on ‘torturous’ execution attempt
Christa Pike's lawyer has revealed some more shocking details about what was supposed to be his client's final moments, after her execution attempt inexplicably failed earlier this week.
More than 30 years on from her murder of Colleen Slemmer, Pike was due to die at the hands of a lethal injection in Tennessee on Wednesday night.
Unlike other botched lethal injections in recent years where prison officers simply couldn't locate a vein, on this occasion Pike was even offering up veins for the officers to try, and they succeeded in administering two doses of the supposedly deadly pentobarbital.
It was a shock to everyone in the room therefore when Pike's heart was still beating and after her legal team filed an emergency motion for the execution to be halted, she was rushed to the hospital for life-saving treatment.
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Her lawyer Randy Spivey has now criticised the 'cruel' and 'torturous' manner of Pike's failed execution, while suggesting that she remains in a critical condition in hospital.
In a press conference, he said: "Christa is alive. We don't have much of a sense of her prognosis or an update on her health.
"Last night was not just inefficient. It was cruel, and it was torturous. It was also predictable.
"[Pike] was not just cooperative, but was trying to help instruct the people placing the IV lines.
"She over and over again said, 'Please try up on my shoulder higher. Please try here, I think it will be okay'."
Considering the significant damage this could do to 50-year-old Pike, with doctors suggesting that a brain injury could be likely, this may well be the outcome that nobody wanted.
Colleen Slemmer's mother May Martinez also didn't mince her words when describing the attempt, suggesting that they 'f****d up'.
She had also criticised the last words of Pike, who made no mention of her murdered daughter and showed no remorse for her horrific actions at 18, as she said: "I'm going to leave this world the way I spent most of my life, and that is in love."
The bizarre situation clearly also confused those in the room, as Spivey suggested that he had 'no idea' when exactly medical professionals began to assist Pike.
Executions are supposed to be efficient and painless but this clearly wasn't the case on 30 September, with Spivey communicating with his legal team for seven minutes as Pike lay unconscious but still breathing.
He added: "I did not get any information or confirmation that an ambulance was on its way until 8.50."
Following the botched execution, Pike's legal team said in a statement to the Tennessean newspaper: "Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution.
"We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms Pike proved to be true: difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy."
Topics: True Crime
James Moorhouse