She received two doses of the drug in a failed attempt by the state of Tennessee to execute her on Wednesday, September 31.
Christa Pike remains on a ventilator with hospital staff working to save her life and clear the pentobarbital she was administered from her system, her attorneys said, according to The Guardian.
Pike’s attorneys stated in a court filing that they believed problems with intravenous lines caused the pentobarbital to flow into her body instead of her bloodstream.
Pike, 50, was sentenced to death in 1996 in connection with the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer . Pike was 20 at the time. The Death Penalty Information Center states that the last execution of a woman in Tennessee was in 1820. This means Pike would have been the first woman to be executed in the state in more than 200 years.
“We are working close with those closest to Christa to respect her wishes, safeguard her privacy and protect her rights as a patient during this extraordinarily difficult time,” the statement added. “Preserving this evidence is essential to understanding what happened, ensuring accountability and protecting Christa’s legal rights,” her attorneys’ statement said. “We ask that the public and the media respect that privacy as well.
On Friday, Pike’s attorneys asked a state court to order Tennessee’s department of correction to preserve all evidence from her failed execution.
