Judge orders evidence saved after Tennessee's failed Pike execution
A Nashville judge on Wednesday ordered Tennessee to preserve all evidence from the failed Sept. 30 execution of Christa Pike. Pike survived two lethal doses and woke up after nearly six days. The state has not said whether it will try again, and her lawyers want her sentence reduced to life.
A Nashville judge has ordered Tennessee to save all evidence from the failed attempt to execute Christa Pike.
Judge I'Ashea Myles granted the order Wednesday after a hearing with Pike's lawyers and the state. It covers IV lines, garbage, photos, surveillance video, timelines, incident reports and witness accounts, the Washington Examiner reported. "This case is unique, to say the least," Myles said.
Pike, 50, was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of classmate Colleen Slemmer. On Sept. 30, executioners gave her two lethal doses of the drug pentobarbital, AP reported. She survived and was put on a ventilator at a hospital.
She regained consciousness almost six days later. Her lawyers had believed she was brain dead. They said she asked where she was and is now "angry and confused." She has burns and blisters on her arms, a blood clot in one arm and pneumonia. Her prognosis is uncertain.
Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, has paused executions for the rest of the year and ordered an outside review. His office has not said whether the state will try again. At the hearing, a state lawyer said setting a new date is up to the Tennessee Supreme Court, the BBC reported. Pike's lawyers want her sentence commuted to life in prison without parole.
Experts say a second attempt would raise hard legal questions. Other inmates have survived failed executions, but in those cases the drugs had not actually entered the body, AP noted. "For the state to attempt to execute her again using the same methodology, they would have severe legal hurdles," Nashville defense attorney Stephen Ross Johnson told the BBC. Her lawyers are also expected to ask whether she is now legally competent to be executed.
Some Tennessee leaders want the sentence carried out another way. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the Republican running for governor, said, "Bring back the electric chair." Because her crime came before Tennessee changed its execution laws, Pike could choose the electric chair, but only in writing, a Vanderbilt law professor told the BBC.
What we know: Executions are paused in Tennessee, and the evidence must be kept.
What we don't: Whether the state will seek a new execution date or the governor will commute the sentence.
Where outlets agree AP and the Washington Examiner both report Pike's lawyers said she woke up "angry and confused" and that the state has not said whether it will try again.
Where they differ Pike's lawyers want her sentence reduced to life in prison, while some Republican leaders, including governor candidate Marsha Blackburn, want the execution carried out by electric chair.