Krista Pike remains unconscious, intubated and on a ventilator at a Nashville-area hospital after the state of Tennessee failed to carry out her death sentence. She is in critical condition and receiving life-saving medical care, her lawyers said in a court filing.
Pike received two doses of pentobarbital during the Sept. 30 procedure. The defense says doctors are trying to stabilize her condition and clear the drug from her system. The lawyers also say the woman has serious injuries to both arms.
“She is being treated for serious effects from the pentobarbital administered during the attempted execution, including significant injuries to both arms,“ said lawyers Stephen Ferrell and Luke Innen.
Defense claims problems with intravenous lines
In the court filing, the lawyers said the team used at least seven needles. They said problems with the intravenous lines may have caused the pentobarbital to leak out of the blood vessels, rather than being properly administered.
Media witnesses heard Pike breathing loudly and snoring after the second dose was administered. According to witness Catherine Sweeney, who has covered other executions, “we have never seen anything like it“.
The Tennessee Department of Corrections said it followed every step of its established and approved protocol. The department added that the drug used had proven effective and that the protocol did not require additional procedures in the event of a similar development.
Tennessee halts other executions
Governor Bill Lee has halted the execution of Gary Sutton, scheduled for December, and ordered a “thorough and comprehensive” independent review of the incident. Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Scurmetti's office said it needed to determine what happened.
Pike's lawyers asked the court to order the Department of Prisons to preserve all evidence related to the botched procedure and urged an expedited review of the request. They urged Lee to commute the death sentence.
“The state of Tennessee has once again demonstrated its inability to carry out an execution in accordance with basic human dignity,“ said attorney Randy Spivey.
Pike, who is 50, is on death row for the 1995 murder of a 19-year-old classmate. She would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in nearly two centuries. An independent investigation is now underway, and the fate of her death sentence remains unresolved.
Sources: CNN