KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WOKI) — Christa Pike’s defense team is speaking out just moments ago saying that she is in critical condition, receiving lifesaving care. This is the first update we’ve received on her condition after reports confirmed she was alive.
Yesterday after a stay at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, Pike survived two doses of Pentobarbital, a lethal drug issued by the Tennessee Department of Corrections.
Randy Spivey called the botched execution “cruel and torturous” but also predictable. Earlier this year her defense team asked for a different way to execute her, citing Pike’s lack of accessible veins and blood condition.
Now they’re asking the state to forego to the death penalty for Pike, saying “the Governor must commute Pike’s sentence now.”
Spivey counted seven needles that entered into Pike, adding one was bent.
He also said added he had tremendous difficulty in communicating with not just Pike but the courts and said it was extremely difficult to call off the execution due to lack of a telephone.
Steven Farrell said she is one of the only people to survive a full attempted execution via lethal injection. They are not speculating on why the execution went wrong.
Pike was sentenced to death for the murder of Colleen Slemmer in 1995. Slemmer was 19-years-old.
