Tennessee death row inmate awake, speaking after failed execution; judge orders execution evidence preserved

A judge ordered Tennessee officials Oct. 7 to preserve all evidence related to the state’s failed execution attempt on death row inmate Christa Pike, who regained consciousness one day earlier and is speaking after the Sept. 30 lethal injection attempt left her critically injured.

Davidson County Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles directed officials to preserve physical evidence and records, including medical supplies, photographs, recordings, emails, text messages, and medical documentation.

“Anything that was in the room needs to be preserved; that includes waste,” Myles said during the hearing, according to Nashville NBC affiliate WSMV.

Assistant Attorney General John Ayers also told the court that no execution order is currently pending for Pike. Whether the state could obtain another execution order is a matter for the Tennessee Supreme Court, he added.

Pike regained consciousness Oct. 6, six days after receiving two doses of pentobarbital administered during the execution attempt at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution. She was rushed to a hospital unconscious and placed on a ventilator, as Zeale News previously reported.

>> Tennessee woman survives lethal injections, remains in critical condition <<

Speaking after the Oct. 7 hearing, attorney Randy Spivey said Pike’s first words upon waking were, “Where am I and who are you?” He described her as still experiencing confusion but partly aware of what happened during the execution attempt. 

Spivey said the legal team had understood on the night of Oct. 5 that Pike was believed to be brain-dead and that life support would be withdrawn the following day. She unexpectedly woke up Oct. 6, he said.

“I do not have an explanation for what happened between Monday night and Tuesday morning, but what we do know is that Christa has a long road to recovery,” Spivey said.

He added that she “cannot move either of her arms” and he does “not know what, if any, function she will regain in her arms.” 

In an Oct. 6 statement, her attorneys said her prognosis remained unclear and that they expected, at a minimum, a lengthy recovery. 

“Against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care,” her attorneys said in a statement reported by CBS affiliate WVLT. “Despite the severe damage she endured to her arms, she is still handcuffed and shackled to the bed.”

Pike’s attorneys filed an emergency motion Oct. 2 seeking preservation of evidence. According to WVLT, they allege that intravenous lines were improperly placed, allowing pentobarbital to leak into surrounding tissue and that the execution team did not recognize the problem before administering a second dose.

Her attorneys had warned before the execution that her small veins and thrombocytosis, a blood disorder, could complicate placement of an intravenous line and increase the risk of severe suffering, as Zeale News reported. 

Pike was sentenced to death for her role in the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow student. Pike was 18 at the time. She expressed remorse in her clemency petition, saying that it “sickens me now to think I had the ability to commit such a crime.”

Pike’s attorneys continue to urge Lee to commute her sentence to life in prison without parole.

Following the failed execution, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, temporarily paused executions in the state and ordered an outside review. Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada also announced his resignation.