Christa Pike was unconscious, intubated and on a ventilator in a Nashville hospital as of Thursday evening, a day after surviving a botched execution attempt, her lawyers said in a court filing. Ms. Pike was critically ill, they wrote in a Friday filing in Davidson County Chancery Court, and both of her arms were swollen, burned and blistered when she arrived at the hospital.
Ms. Pike’s medical condition, some legal experts said, raises questions about whether the state could attempt to execute her again if she is not fully cognizant or capable of understanding what is happening. The disclosure is the most detailed update on Ms. Pike’s health since she survived two rounds of pentobarbital, the drug used as part of Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol, on Wednesday evening.
“Hospital staff are working to save Ms. Pike’s life and to clear the pentobarbital from her system,” the lawyers wrote. The disclosure about Ms. Pike’s condition was part of an emergency request from her lawyers, asking a Nashville judge to order the preservation of state prison records related to her execution. The records were, they wrote, evidence of “incompetent and reckless actions.”
In 1996, Ms. Pike was found guilty of torturing and murdering a classmate, Colleen Slemmer, in an attack carried out with her boyfriend and another friend. Jamie Mc Gee and Ann E. Marimow contributed reporting. This is a developing story.
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