Christa Pike is still alive after Tennessee executioners injected her with two syringes of lethal injection chemicals Wednesday night, her attorneys said in an emergency court filing asking to stop the execution.
According to the federal court filing, witnesses reported at 8:26 p.m. local time that executioners had injected both syringes and Pike was “still alive and snoring.” Her lawyers wrote that she had not lost consciousness, still had a heartbeat, and that the curtains to the death chamber had been lowered twice. Attorney Kelly Gleason said Randy Spivey, another member of Pike’s defense team, was watching from inside the chamber and stepped out to alert the rest of the team.
Luke Ihnen, an assistant federal defender representing Pike, confirmed she received both syringes and said her team was filing a motion for a stay, a court order that would pause the execution. The Tennessee attorney general’s office went to the Supreme Court in response, arguing that the execution needs to continue so Pike is not rewarded for what the state calls abusive delay tactics.
Pike being still alive is the latest twist in a day of back and forth over her life. She was originally scheduled to die at 10 a.m. at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. About an hour before that, a federal appeals court voted 2 to 1 to pause the execution so it could review whether her history of childhood sexual abuse and rape was fully considered when she was sentenced. The Supreme Court lifted that pause just before 7 p.m., with three justices dissenting, which set the execution in motion. The state’s order allowing the execution expires at midnight.
Pike’s lawyers had warned in a lawsuit earlier this year that Tennessee’s lethal injection process would put her through unnecessary pain and suffering. They argued that her medical conditions, including a blood disorder, made a torturous execution very likely and that the state’s protocol had no backup plan with emergency medical staff on site if something went wrong.
Pike, 50, was 18 when she killed 19 year old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow student at the Knoxville Job Corps, in 1995. She was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death in 1996. If the execution is completed, she will be the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
As of publication, prison officials had not confirmed whether Christa Pike is still alive or whether the execution has been stopped. A press conference is expected.
