Tennessee Gov. says Christa Pike will likely remain on death row

Christa Pike is still likely to face execution despite surviving a failed attempt to carry out her death sentence, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has said.

Lee commented on Pike’s fate weeks after prison officials administered two doses of pentobarbital in an unsuccessful effort to execute her for the 1995 stabbing death of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer.

‘As it related to a particular individual like Christa Pike and her crime, she’s still incarcerated under the laws of the State of Tennessee,’ Lee said, according to WSMV News.

‘I suspect her sentence will be the same as before unless determined otherwise by the courts,’ he added.

Lee spoke as Pike’s attorneys urged him to commute her death sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

During last month’s disturbing procedure, Pike, 50, reportedly cried out: ‘My arm feels like it’s about to burst open,’ before later asking: ‘Does this happen like that?’

After she was taken to hospital, both arms were swollen, burned and covered in blisters. Her attorneys compared the injuries to damage caused by bleach or Drano, a chemical used to clear blocked household drains and pipes.

Pike’s lawyers said they believed faulty IV lines caused the pentobarbital to leak into the tissue in her arms instead of entering her bloodstream.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee (pictured) said Christa Pike will likely remain subject to execution despite surviving a failed attempt to put her to death last month

Lee spoke weeks after Tennessee officials administered two doses of pentobarbital in an unsuccessful attempt to execute Pike for the 1995 stabbing death of her classmate Colleen Slemmer

The governor’s remarks followed calls from Pike’s lawyers for her death sentence to be replaced with life without parole (pictured: execution chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tennessee)

Pike was 18 when she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, beat and killed 19-year-old Slemmer at a job training camp

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Pike has since returned to the women’s prison where she spent 30 years. Although there were initial fears that the botched execution had left her brain-dead, her attorneys say she can now walk and speak in complete sentences.

‘Where am I and who are you?’ were reportedly her first words after she regained consciousness in hospital, her attorney said during a press conference.

Her return to prison nevertheless prompted questions about whether Tennessee would attempt to execute her again.

Lee, who has suspended executions through the end of the year, indicated that Pike’s death sentence is still expected to remain in place.

A Tennessee judge has also ordered the state to preserve all evidence connected to the failed execution.

Assistant Attorney General John Ayers did not oppose the request. He said there is no active execution order for Pike and maintained that the Department of Correction had already preserved evidence from the attempted execution.

Ayers said log books, observation logs, medical waste and products, along with electrocardiogram readings, had been retained.

It was recently revealed that local and state police were confused and incredulous after prison officials first reported that Pike had survived the execution attempt. One dispatcher reportedly believed the message was a false report.

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, who believed Slemmer was trying to take her boyfriend, lured her to a wooded area, cut her with a box cutter and beat her with a large piece of asphalt.

Shipp then carved a pentagram into the victim’s body. He was 17 when the crime occurred and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Pike was the only defendant given the death penalty.