Christa Pike is on life support after ‘IV issue’ led to failed execution, attorneys say
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Christa Pike is on a ventilator in the hospital after her failed execution in Tennessee, her attorneys said in a court filing Friday.
Hospital staff were working to save her life and clear the two doses of pentobarbital, the drug the state uses to execute prisoners, from her body in the hours after the botched execution, according to her lawyers.
“She is critically ill, unconscious, intubated and receiving breathing assistance through a ventilator,” her attorneys wrote in a statement. “She is being treated for the serious effects of pentobarbital administered during the execution attempt, including significant injuries to both arms.”
In the court filing, the attorneys requested an order requiring the Tennessee Department of Correction to preserve all evidence related to the failed execution attempt.
Pike’s attorneys say they warned the state and the courts months earlier about “serious complications” that could occur during her execution.
The stunning failure in Tennessee’s execution chamber on Wednesday night has left both sides on the death penalty debate demanding answers. The state's governor has ordered an independent review.
In the court filing, Pike’s attorneys said they believed problems with the IV lines caused the lethal drug pentobarbital to flow into her body instead of her bloodstream.
“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,” they wrote.
Instead of “remedying this failure,” they prepared and administered a backup set of pentobarbital syringe, her lawyers said.
The execution team worked for an hour to administer the lethal drugs, according to Pike's defense lawyer Randy Spivey, who counted at least seven needles in her left arm.
Neither the initial nor the backup dose of pentobarbital worked. Pike was still snoring when the execution chamber’s microphone was cut off more than an hour into the attempt.
“We are working closely with those closest to Christa to respect her wishes, safeguard her privacy and protect her rights as a patient during this extraordinarily difficult time,” Luke Ihnen, her attorney with Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee, said in a statement on Friday. “We ask that the public and media respect that privacy as well.”
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee demanded a review of the state’s execution procedures and indefinitely postponed Pike’s execution and another one slated for this year.
Other Republican political leaders in Tennessee said the state should review whether to stop single-drug lethal injections and consider other options to carry out death sentences.
