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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BFMG) — Attorneys for Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike say she remained alive and breathing more than an hour after lethal injection drugs were administered Wednesday evening, prompting an extraordinary effort to seek emergency court intervention.
Pike, (50), was scheduled to be executed Sept. 30 at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville for the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.
Attorney Kelly Gleason said shortly before 9 p.m. that execution personnel had administered two syringes of lethal injection drugs to Pike, but she remained alive.
According to Gleason, fellow attorney Randy Spivey was inside the death chamber with Pike before stepping out to make a phone call.
“She’s alive and snoring,” Gleason said.
Gleason said another member of Pike’s legal team, attorney Amy Harwell, was attempting to deliver an emergency motion to the Tennessee Supreme Court.
“She needs immediate medical care,” Gleason said.
Gleason also said Pike’s attorneys were unable to reach contacts in the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office, Gov. Bill Lee’s office or the Tennessee Supreme Court as they attempted to stop further action.
“We’re not able to reach anybody that’s responsible for stopping this,” Gleason said.
The Tennessee Department of Correction had not immediately issued a public statement confirming Pike’s condition or detailing what had occurred inside the execution chamber.
Execution followed hours of court battles
Pike had originally been scheduled for execution by lethal injection at 10 a.m. Central time Wednesday.
Approximately an hour before the scheduled execution, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit issued a temporary stay, preventing Tennessee from carrying out the sentence while the court considered additional legal arguments.
The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office then asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the stay.
The Supreme Court ruled (,pdf) in Tennessee’s favor shortly before 6 p.m., clearing the state to proceed with Pike’s execution. The Tennessee Department of Correction subsequently said it intended to move forward with the execution Wednesday.
The execution had initially been scheduled for 10 a.m. at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction.
Tennessee protocol provides for backup drugs
Tennessee currently uses the drug pentobarbital in its lethal injection protocol. TDOC adopted the single-drug protocol following a review of the state’s execution procedures.
Under the protocol described in reporting surrounding Pike’s execution, prison officials prepare an initial set of syringes containing pentobarbital and saline.
Following administration of the initial drugs, officials wait before a physician enters the chamber to determine whether the inmate has died.
If the inmate remains alive, a backup set of syringes can be prepared and administered.
The protocol reportedly does not specify what officials should do if an inmate remains alive after the backup drugs are administered, raising immediate questions Wednesday night about how the state would proceed if Pike continued showing signs of life.
Pike convicted in 1995 killing
Pike is the only woman on Tennessee’s death row and was convicted and sentenced to death for the killing of Slemmer in Knoxville in 1995.
Pike was 18 years old at the time of the crime.
Her scheduled execution was set to become Tennessee’s first execution of a woman in more than 200 years.
Gov. Bill Lee denied Pike’s request for clemency earlier this week, leaving court challenges as her attorneys’ remaining avenue to stop the execution.
Wednesday’s events unfolded across nearly the entire day, beginning with the last-minute federal appeals court stay, followed by Tennessee’s emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and ultimately the high court’s decision allowing the execution to proceed.
Now, the focus has shifted from whether Tennessee could legally carry out the execution to what happened after the lethal injection process began.
Pike’s condition, the status of her attorneys’ emergency filing and the Tennessee Department of Correction’s next steps remained unclear late Wednesday.
This is a developing story and will be updated as additional information becomes available.
