A US death row inmate who survived an attempt to execute her by lethal injection is conscious and speaking, her lawyers have said, as they go to court to find out what went wrong. Christa Pike, 50, was given two doses of the drug pentobarbital at a Tennessee prison on 30 September. She is believed to be the only person to survive after lethal injection drugs were administered.
"Against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care," her attorneys said on Tuesday. "Despite the severe damage she endured to her arms, she is still handcuffed and shackled to the bed," they said. "Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery." Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, committed when she was 18.
She would have been the first woman executed by Tennessee in more than 200 years. Her lawyers are due in court in Nashville on Wednesday, seeking an order requiring the prison system to preserve evidence including drug lot numbers, needles and execution logs. The Tennessee attorney general's office said the order was unnecessary because the prison system is "obliged to maintain this evidence in other cases and must assure it is preserved".
Experts have focused on whether a problem with the IV line caused the drug to pool in her tissue instead of entering her bloodstream. A court filing said both Pike's arms were "swollen, burned, and blistered" when she arrived at hospital. Governor Bill Lee called what happened "deeply disturbing" and ordered a "comprehensive, third-party review".
He has suspended executions in the state pending the investigation, and the prison chief has resigned. Pike's lawyers have again called on Lee to commute her sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
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