Hearing set on motion to preserve evidence in Christa Pike’s botched execution

A hearing is set for Wednesday on a motion to preserve evidence in the botched execution of Christa Pike.

The lone woman on Tennessee’s death row survived being administered two lethal doses of pentobarbital and remains hospitalized following the failed Sept. 30 execution in Nashville, her attorneys said.

Pike was sentenced to death after being convicted of the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Her attempted execution by lethal injection came after a series of last-minute legal challenges.

Pike’s attorneys filed an emergency motion in Davidson County Chancery Court last week seeking an order requiring the Tennessee Department of Correction to protect and preserve “any and all evidence related” related to the execution attempt, which they allege was “cruel and unusual punishment.”

“In light of the manifest violation of Ms. Pike’s constitutional rights, the actionable nature of that violation, and the reasonable foreseeability of litigation, the Defendants have an affirmative duty to preserve all relevant physical, written, and electronic evidence,” the filing stated.

A status conference on the matter has been scheduled for 11 a.m. CT Wednesday.

According to the motion, Pike “could be heard crying, whimpering, and breathing loudly” while being administered two lethal doses of pentobarbital, at one point stating that her arm “feels like it’s about to burst open.” At least seven needles were used to gain IV access, with one “bent in a 90-degree angle when it was removed,” the motion stated.

The motion described pentobarbital, a sedating medication, as being “caustic and highly alkaline” and that it “burns upon contact.” Both of Pike’s arms were “swollen, burned, and blistered” when she arrived at a Nashville-area hospital, the motion stated.

Pike had raised concerns about a lethal injection in the months prior to her scheduled execution, arguing that her “thrombocytosis, post traumatic stress disorder and small veins ‘make it sure or very likely that there is a substantial risk that she will experience unnecessary and superadded pain and suffering, terror, and disgrace,'” the motion stated.

In an update Tuesday, Pike’s attorneys said she was conscious and speaking after the failed execution left her critically injured and temporarily on a ventilator.

“Her recovery is medically unprecedented. Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery,” her attorneys — Randy Spivey and Kelly Gleason from the Tennessee Office of the Post Conviction Defender and Stephen Ferrell and Luke Ihnen from Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee — said in a statement.

The Tennessee Department of Correction confirmed Tuesday that Pike remains hospitalized but said it could not provide details of her medical condition due to federal privacy laws.

In the wake of the botched execution, the Tennessee Department of Correction said that it “followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office.”

“The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective, and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out [that] evening,” the statement continued.

Pike’s attorneys said Tuesday they continue to ask Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to commute her sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

She is the first person reported to have survived lethal injection after being given medications, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, whose executive director referred to the failed attempt as “the worst we’ve ever seen and unlike any other botched execution in the modern era.”

In the wake of the botched execution, Gov. Lee ordered a temporary halt to scheduled executions in the state and Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada resigned.

The governor’s office said in a statement that it has also appointed former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton to conduct an independent review of the Tennessee Department of Correction’s execution attempt that “will seek to determine whether the protocol was followed and consider whether additional recommendations are necessary to ensure the State’s protocol continues to be lawful and effective.”

“The State previously retained Stanton in 2022 to conduct an independent review of Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol. His work prompted the State and Attorney General’s Office to substantially rewrite the protocol before executions resumed,” the statement further said.

The botched execution comes after Tennessee’s planned execution of Tony Carruthers in May had to be halted after authorities were unable to find a suitable vein to place an IV to administer the injection after trying for over an hour, his attorneys said at the time. Gov. Lee granted Carruthers a one-year reprieve.