Death Row Inmate on Ventilator After Botched Execution, Attorneys Say

A Tennessee death row inmate remained unconscious on a ventilator Friday after surviving the state’s failed attempt to execute her earlier this week. Her attorneys accused prison officials of disregarding months of warnings that the lethal injection could go disastrously wrong.

Christa Pike was scheduled to die for the 1995 torture and killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Had the execution gone forward, Pike would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. Instead, the attempt failed Wednesday night.

Pike’s attorneys filed an emergency motion in Davidson County Chancery Court asking a judge to require the Tennessee Department of Correction to preserve evidence tied to what they called a “botched attempted execution.”

The lawyers said the records are essential to establishing what happened, safeguarding Pike’s legal rights and determining accountability.

“Christa remains critically ill and is receiving medical care for the devastating effects of Wednesday night’s events,” attorneys Stephen Ferrell and Luke Ihnen said in a statement Friday. “As detailed in today’s filing, Christa remains hospitalized following Wednesday night’s failed execution attempt.”

“She is critically ill, unconscious, intubated and receiving breathing assistance through a ventilator,” they said. “She is being treated for the serious effects of the pentobarbital administered during the execution attempt, including significant injuries to both arms.”

The emergency motion offers a detailed account of what Pike’s attorneys say occurred inside the execution chamber.

According to the filing, the execution team had difficulty establishing intravenous access and used at least seven needles before administering two lethal doses of pentobarbital.

The filing alleges that Pike suggested places where staff could attempt to insert the IV. One needle was reportedly bent at a 90-degree angle when removed, while Pike could be heard crying, whimpering and breathing heavily during the procedure.

MUST READ: Presley Gerber on the Modeling Industry Rumor That Haunted Him as a Teenager

Pike allegedly told those conducting the execution, “My arm feels like it’s about to burst open,” and later asked, “Does this happen like that?”

The motion says Pike was taken to the hospital with both arms “swollen, burned, and blistered.” It also cites medical experts who compared pentobarbital to “bleach” or “Drano,” calling it a highly caustic substance that can burn skin, tissue and veins.

Pike’s attorneys argued that the complications should not have been unexpected.

In the months leading up to the execution, they warned state officials that Pike’s thrombocytosis, post-traumatic stress disorder, small veins and history of difficult needle insertion could make it especially challenging to establish and maintain IV access. They also cautioned that improperly delivered pentobarbital could cause “serious illness, needless suffering, and/or prolonged or lingering death.”

“Her concerns were called ‘speculation’; they were laughed off, scoffed at, and dismissed,” the motion states. “In the words of one media witness: we have a lot of questions and the Department of Correction has a lot of answers that it needs to provide to the public about what happened here. We agree.”

The attorneys also allege that the execution team failed to realize the IV lines had failed before administering an additional dose of pentobarbital.

“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 and that the pentobarbital was, in whole or in part, entering Ms. Pike’s body,” the motion states. “Instead of remedying this failure, TDOC elected to prepare a backup set of syringes (if they were not also prepared earlier that day) and then administered another lethal dose of pentobarbital.”

Pike’s attorneys said preserving evidence from the failed execution is now vital as the legal case proceeds.

“In light of the manifest violation of Ms. Pike’s constitutional rights, the actionable nature of that violation, and the reasonable foreseeability of litigation, the Defendants have an affirmative duty to preserve all relevant physical, written, and electronic evidence,” the motion states.

News Outlet reached out to the Tennessee Department of Correction and the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office for comment.

“The Governor has appropriately called for an investigation. We need to know what happened,” a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office said.