Christa Pike: Four Major Questions As She Returns to Death Row

U.S.NewsPoliticsAI PoliticsTechFact CheckSportsGlobalIran WarRussia-UkraineMiddle EastChina And AsiaLive BlogBetter PlanetAll World NewsLifestyleFamily & ParentingEntertainmentTravelPetsAutomotiveRelationshipsScienceHealthPersonal FinanceBetter WorkplacesReaders ChoiceOpinionMy TurnAll OpinionRankingsHealthCorporate ResponsibilityFinanceProductsEducationWorkAll RankingsWatchThe 1600The Royal ReportUnconventionalFrom The PaddockNewsmakersSocialFacebookInstagramYouTubeRedditTikTokTwitter/XExtraNewslettersDare to DreamEventsEssaysPodcastsVantageInsightsMagazineCEO CircleAnnouncementsLeadershipDev Pragad As Christa Pike returns to death row after surviving Tennessee’s attempt to execute her, several questions remain about her case and what comes next. Pike, 50, was discharged from hospital and moved back to the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, the women’s prison where she was housed for 30 years, her attorneys said on Saturday. She was hospitalized after surviving two doses of the lethal drug pentobarbital as Tennessee attempted to execute her on September 30. Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, her classmate at a Job Corps training program in Knoxville, Tennessee. Pike was 18 at the time. Pike is the first person to survive after receiving lethal injection drugs during an execution, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Her failed execution has brought renewed scrutiny on how states carry out the death penalty in the U.S, particularly when using lethal injection, and raised questions about whether Tennessee could make another attempt to put Pike to death. Newsweek has contacted Pike’s attorneys and Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s office for comment via email. Here, Newsweek looks at the major questions in the case. What Is Her Condition Now? Pike’s attorneys said on Saturday that she is continuing to receive medical care at the prison. She was hospitalized after the failed execution. Her attorneys said she was critically ill and not expected to survive. Plans were being made to remove her from life support when she woke up and began talking on Tuesday, her attorneys said. By Thursday, they said she was walking with assistance, eating a regular diet and regaining movement and strength in her arms. They said her arms were burned and blistered in the execution attempt. Her attorneys described her physical recovery as "remarkable" but said that questions remain about the long-term effects of what she endured. "Christa is dealing with the profound psychological trauma of having survived a failed execution, including the terror, pain and uncertainty of believing she was about to die," they said in a statement on Thursday. "We cannot yet know the full emotional and psychological toll of that experience or how long it will take her to begin to heal." What Went Wrong In Pike’s Failed Execution? The Tennessee Department of Correction has not said what went wrong during Pike’s execution, but said the execution protocol was followed. In a statement on September 30, the department said 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 this evening." In a bid to understand what went wrong, Pike’s attorneys asked a judge to require the state to preserve evidence, including drug lot numbers, communications and other material from the attempted execution. A judge told prison officials on Wednesday that they must preserve "anything that was in the actual room." Pike’s attorneys have raised questions about the state’s efforts to establish IV access. In the motion to preserve evidence, they wrote that the execution team attempted to gain IV access by using at least seven needles and that one was "bent in a 90-degree angle when it was removed." They added that "apparently at no point did any member of the execution team realize that the IV lines were not correctly placed." Medical and lethal injection experts have suggested that problems with the IV line could explain how Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital, if the drug did not enter her bloodstream as intended. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has ordered an independent review of the Tennessee Department of Correction’s actions in the execution attempt. The review "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 governor’s office said in a statement. Pike’s failed execution also led to the resignation of the department’s commissioner Frank Strada. Strada said in a statement provided to Newsweek that he believes the department "carried out its responsibilities in accordance with the established protocol, adding: "Even so, stepping aside is in the best interest of Tennesseans as the independent review moves forward. I believe this review is entirely appropriate and necessary, and I look forward to doing everything I can to help determine exactly what occurred." Can She Be Executed For a Second Time? Tennessee has not said whether it will try to execute Pike again, but any such attempt could raise legal issues. Other states have moved forward with attempting to execute inmates a second time before, but in each of those cases, the first attempt was stopped before any drugs began flowing. Deborah Denno, a professor at Fordham University School of Law and a death penalty expert, previously told Newsweek that a second attempt to execute Pike could violate the constitutional protection against double jeopardy. "The state has one bite of the apple," Denno said, describing the double-jeopardy argument Pike’s lawyers could pursue. "They can't come back and say, ‘Well, we didn't do it right.’" Pike’s attorneys have urged the governor to commute Pike’s death sentence to the life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. "Christa has endured more than enough," they said on Thursday. "She should never be subjected to another execution attempt." When Will Tennessee Resume Executions? Lee suspended executions in Tennessee for the rest of the year as he ordered the independent review into Pike’s failed execution. That means the execution of Gary Wayne Sutton will not take place on December 3 as previously scheduled. It remains unclear when the review into Pike’s execution will be complete or when the state could resume executions. The governor’s office said the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office retained former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton to conduct the review. Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Tobias Meyjes and Trevor Davies10Loading video…By Khaleda RahmanNational Correspondent

0ShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberSee more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.As Christa Pike returns to death row after surviving Tennessee’s attempt to execute her, several questions remain about her case and what comes next.

Pike, 50, was discharged from hospital and moved back to the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, the women’s prison where she was housed for 30 years, her attorneys said on Saturday.

She was hospitalized after surviving two doses of the lethal drug pentobarbital as Tennessee attempted to execute her on September 30. Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, her classmate at a Job Corps training program in Knoxville, Tennessee. Pike was 18 at the time.

Pike is the first person to survive after receiving lethal injection drugs during an execution, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Her failed execution has brought renewed scrutiny on how states carry out the death penalty in the U.S, particularly when using lethal injection, and raised questions about whether Tennessee could make another attempt to put Pike to death. Newsweek has contacted Pike’s attorneys and Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s office for comment via email.

Here, Newsweek looks at the major questions in the case.

Pike’s attorneys said on Saturday that she is continuing to receive medical care at the prison.

She was hospitalized after the failed execution. Her attorneys said she was critically ill and not expected to survive.

Plans were being made to remove her from life support when she woke up and began talking on Tuesday, her attorneys said. By Thursday, they said she was walking with assistance, eating a regular diet and regaining movement and strength in her arms. They said her arms were burned and blistered in the execution attempt.

Her attorneys described her physical recovery as “remarkable” but said that questions remain about the long-term effects of what she endured.

“Christa is dealing with the profound psychological trauma of having survived a failed execution, including the terror, pain and uncertainty of believing she was about to die,” they said in a statement on Thursday.

“We cannot yet know the full emotional and psychological toll of that experience or how long it will take her to begin to heal.”

The Tennessee Department of Correction has not said what went wrong during Pike’s execution, but said the execution protocol was followed.

In a statement on September 30, the department said 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 this evening.”

In a bid to understand what went wrong, Pike’s attorneys asked a judge to require the state to preserve evidence, including drug lot numbers, communications and other material from the attempted execution. A judge told prison officials on Wednesday that they must preserve “anything that was in the actual room.”

Pike’s attorneys have raised questions about the state’s efforts to establish IV access. In the motion to preserve evidence, they wrote that the execution team attempted to gain IV access by using at least seven needles and that one was “bent in a 90-degree angle when it was removed.” They added that “apparently at no point did any member of the execution team realize that the IV lines were not correctly placed.”

Medical and lethal injection experts have suggested that problems with the IV line could explain how Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital, if the drug did not enter her bloodstream as intended.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has ordered an independent review of the Tennessee Department of Correction’s actions in the execution attempt.

The review “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 governor’s office said in a statement.

Pike’s failed execution also led to the resignation of the department’s commissioner Frank Strada.

Strada said in a statement provided to Newsweek that he believes the department “carried out its responsibilities in accordance with the established protocol, adding: “Even so, stepping aside is in the best interest of Tennesseans as the independent review moves forward. I believe this review is entirely appropriate and necessary, and I look forward to doing everything I can to help determine exactly what occurred.”

Tennessee has not said whether it will try to execute Pike again, but any such attempt could raise legal issues.

Other states have moved forward with attempting to execute inmates a second time before, but in each of those cases, the first attempt was stopped before any drugs began flowing.

Deborah Denno, a professor at Fordham University School of Law and a death penalty expert, previously told Newsweek that a second attempt to execute Pike could violate the constitutional protection against double jeopardy.

“The state has one bite of the apple,” Denno said, describing the double-jeopardy argument Pike’s lawyers could pursue. “They can’t come back and say, ‘Well, we didn’t do it right.’”

Pike’s attorneys have urged the governor to commute Pike’s death sentence to the life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

“Christa has endured more than enough,” they said on Thursday. “She should never be subjected to another execution attempt.”

Lee suspended executions in Tennessee for the rest of the year as he ordered the independent review into Pike’s failed execution.

That means the execution of Gary Wayne Sutton will not take place on December 3 as previously scheduled.

It remains unclear when the review into Pike’s execution will be complete or when the state could resume executions. The governor’s office said the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office retained former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton to conduct the review.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Tobias Meyjes and Trevor Davies