NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Christa Pike was “angry and confused” in the hours after regaining consciousness following Tennessee’s failed execution attempt, first asking, “Where am I?” her lawyer said Wednesday.
Pike, believed to be the first person to survive after receiving lethal injection drugs during an execution, stunningly woke up as plans were being made to remove her from life support, just six days after she was strapped to a gurney in the death chamber, said attorney Randy Spivey.
“But on Tuesday, to the shock of everyone … Christa woke up and began talking,” Spivey said.
Pike, who was sentenced to death for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer, is aware of what happened to her, at least up to a point, Spivey said.
Many questions remain, though, about her prognosis for recovery and whether Tennessee will make another attempt to execute Pike, now age 50.
Her lawyers said Wednesday that she has suffered enough and want the governor to commute her sentence. A judge in Nashville told the state on Wednesday to save evidence from the execution attempt as Pike’s attorneys try to find out more.
The failed execution on Sept. 30 has renewed scrutiny of how states carry out the death penalty, in particular the use of lethal injection. Texas was set to carry out Wednesday the first execution in the U.S. since Tennessee attempted to put Pike to death.
Pike faces a long recovery, lawyer says
Pike’s legal team said she still can’t move her arms or swallow and has some cognitive confusion. She also has pneumonia and a blood clot in her arm, Spivey said. Her hands were extremely swollen when they saw her Tuesday in the hospital, shackled to a bed, he added.
Her prognosis remains unclear and she has a long road to recovery, he said.
“She is angry and confused about everything right now,” Randy Spivey said during a news conference following a court hearing about preserving evidence.
Spivey, who was not with Pike when she woke up, was told her first words were, “Where am I?” and “Who are you?”
Pike’s attorneys want evidence preserved
The Death Penalty Information Center says Pike is the first person to survive after receiving lethal injection drugs during an execution.
At the hearing Wednesday, a judge told the state that the Tennessee Department of Correction needs to save evidence including “anything that was in the actual room.”
Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles said she plans to issue a sweeping order that will direct the state to maintain recordings, witness accounts, emails, drugs, syringes, IV lines and other medical items.
The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office had argued a court order was unnecessary. John W. Ayers, assistant attorney general, said some evidence from the death chamber already had been collected and logged. He declined to comment after the hearing.
Pike’s attorneys accused the state of carrying out the attempted execution in secrecy, saying more transparency is needed. They also repeated their calls for clemency for Pike. Republican Gov. Bill Lee has not yet indicated how he’ll respond.
Outside the courthouse, Michelle Nowell yelled “Justice for Colleen” as Pike’s attorneys talked with supporters.
“The victim is Colleen. The victim is not Christa Pike,” said Nowell, who was among a group outside the prison last week where the failed execution took place.
What happened in the execution chamber remains unclear
The governor postponed the state’s only other execution for this year and ordered a review of what went wrong. The state’s prison chief resigned.
Medical and lethal injection experts have focused on the possibility that a problem with the IV line caused the drug to pool in her tissue rather than entering her bloodstream.
Pike’s attorneys wrote in a court filing that “apparently at no point did any member of the execution team realize that the IV lines were not correctly placed or that the veins had blown.”
State officials have not yet offered an explanation.
The attempted execution got underway when Pike was given a chance to make a final statement. About five minutes later, she raised her head and said her arm was hurting. At some point she appeared to lose consciousness, but she could be heard breathing heavily until media were escorted from the witness room nearly 90 minutes into the execution. An ambulance took Pike to a hospital.
Dr. Joel Zivot, a professor of anesthesiology and surgery in Atlanta who consulted as an expert for Pike’s legal team, said it could be weeks or months before anyone knows exactly what her recovery might look like, and whether her competency could be restored so the state can try again to execute her.
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