Christa Pike’s attorneys says client is unconscious and on ventilator after execution attempt

The attorneys for Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike said in a court filing Friday that their client was unconscious, intubated and on a ventilator in a Nashville hospital as of Thursday evening after a botched execution attempt.Pike, who was convicted of killing former classmate Colleen Slemmer in 1995 when she was just 18-years-old, was initially scheduled to be executed Wednesday morning, but it was delayed after an appeals court stayed the execution. The Supreme Court later ruled the execution could move forward if it was carried out before midnight.
The attorneys said Pike is critically ill and both of her arms were swollen, burned and blistered from the injections when she arrived at the hospital. She reportedly survived at least two full doses of the lethal drug, pentobarbital.
“Hospital staff are working to save Ms. Pike’s life and to clear the pentobarbital from her system,” the lawyers wrote, according to the New York Times.
The filing comes as the attorneys seek a court order to force the state to preserve all state prison records related to her execution. They claimed the records are evidence of “incompetent and reckless actions.”
One of her attorneys claimed Thursday that Pike had venous issues throughout her life, noting problems with typical blood draws, and the other attorney said she feared problems with the execution and had requested a different method of execution. 
“I do know that that really was her biggest fear,” attorney Stephen Ferrell said. “It was not a fear of dying. It was a fear of a prolonged, painful, traumatic death, and that’s what happened minus the death.”
Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee has halted a third execution attempt in light of Wednesday’s issues and has ordered a “comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred.” The next attempt will not take place this year.
Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.

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