Christa Pike has left a Tennessee hospital and returned to prison after surviving a failed execution attempt on death row.
The 50-year-old inmate was sentenced to death for first-degree murder and was taken to the hospital after officials were unable to complete her lethal injection.
Her attorneys said Saturday that Pike had been discharged and transferred back to the Deborah K Johnson Rehabilitation Center. She had spent more than three decades there before her scheduled execution.
‘She is grateful to the first responders and her medical team for their care in these extraordinary circumstances. She is continuing to receive medical care at the prison, and we will continue to track her recovery,’ her attorneys said in a statement.
Pike has been imprisoned since 1995 for the beating and stabbing death of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer.
Her execution had been set for September 30, but she remained alive after two attempts to administer pentobarbital failed.
According to her lawyers, the drug was injected into Pike’s arms rather than directly into her veins, leaving her with burns and severe blistering.
Her legal team previously said Pike spent the first several days in the hospital unconscious and dependent on a ventilator.
Christa Pike survived a botched execution in Tennessee and was taken to a hospital before being discharged
Pike was sentenced to death for the fatal stabbing of her classmate and is pictured receiving her sentence in 1996
Pike has been on Tennessee’s death row since her conviction in the 1995 beating and stabbing death of Colleen Slemmer
Pike’s initial steps on Wednesday were described as limited, while she required help walking the following day. She has also begun to regain movement in her arms and ate for the first time earlier this week.
A judge ordered Tennessee officials on Wednesday to preserve every piece of evidence connected to the unsuccessful execution.
Judge I’Ashea Myles said: ‘This case is unique to say the least.’
‘Take special care not to lose, misplace, or accidentally delete any information pertinent to this investigation.’
During the hearing, Pike’s attorney, Luke Ihnen, asked that the restraints attached to her hospital bed be removed and that she be allowed to use a telephone.
‘Up until yesterday, our client was unconscious, unable to communicate with counsel, unable to communicate with medical providers,’ Ihnen told the court.
Assistant Attorney General John Ayers said no execution order is currently active against Pike and maintained that the Department of Corrections had already secured evidence from the attempted execution.
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He said officials had retained logbooks, observation records, medical waste and related materials, along with electrocardiogram readings.
An ambulance arrived at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution to transport Pike to the hospital
‘It’s my understanding that the IV lines were cut, and so there may be portions of those IV lines that could have been still attached to Ms Pike when she was transported to the hospital,’ Ayers said.
‘It would be premature and prejudicial, quite frankly, to enter an order requiring preservation of that kind of evidence before counsel had a chance to confer on it and get a picture of where that evidence might be.’
Pike’s aunt, Carrie Ross, told Our News Outlet that her niece’s shocking botched execution has taken a tremendous toll.
‘It’s been up, down, up, down. I have cried more tears in the last week than I’ve cried in my whole life,’ Ross said.
‘This whole week has been a blur.’
The Death Penalty Information Center says Pike is the first person to survive after receiving lethal injection drugs during an execution.
‘I’m going to leave this world the way I spent most of my life and that is in love,’ the killer said in her ‘last’ words. She described herself as at peace.
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.
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.’
Luke Ihnen, attorney for Christa Pike, speaks during a news conference Wednesday after a judge ruled the Tennessee Department of Corrections must preserve all evidence related to the failed execution
Pike was assisted by her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp (left), and their classmate Shadolla Peterson (right)
Pike was 18 when she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, beat and killed 19-year-old Slemmer at a job training camp.
Prosecutors said Pike, fearing Slemmer was trying to steal her boyfriend, lured her to a wooded area, cut her with a box cutter and beat her with a large chunk of asphalt.
Shipp then carved a pentagram into the victim’s body. He was 17 when the crime happened and received a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole. Pike was the only one sentenced to death.
It’s unclear how state officials will proceed with her case. Pike’s attorneys have argued Pike has suffered enough and want the governor to commute her sentence.
