Christa Pike is suffering from pneumonia, a blood clot, and an inability to move her arms or hands after surviving a botched execution in Tennessee, according to her legal team. Attorney Randy Spivey stated during a Wednesday news conference that Pike’s hands were severely swollen and she had trouble swallowing after regaining consciousness in a hospital. Lawyers noted she was briefly thought to be brain-dead before waking up and beginning to speak, though her long-term prognosis and recovery remain unclear. The update followed an emergency hearing in Davidson County Chancery Court, where Chancellor I’Ashea Myles granted an order requiring the Tennessee Department of Correction to preserve all relevant physical and digital evidence related to the September 30 procedure. This includes drugs, IV lines, needles, medical supplies, and communications regarding equipment or drug administration issues. Staff administered two doses of pentobarbital during the failed lethal injection after allegedly failing to establish a proper IV line, allowing the drug to spread through her body. Pike’s defense team has renewed calls for Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute her death sentence to life imprisonment without parole to prevent a second execution attempt. Governor Lee previously denied her clemency petition, canceled remaining executions for the year, and ordered an investigation into the incident, which prompted the state correctional commissioner to step down. Pike, now 50, was convicted in 1995 for the murder of 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer. She spent more than three decades on death row as the state’s only female inmate awaiting execution, a case that drew significant public debate regarding her age at the time of the crime and history of mental illness.
Source: cbsnews.com
