Christa Pike has not regained consciousness since Tennessee’s failed attempt to execute her on September 30, her attorney said on October 4. The 50-year-old death row inmate remains in critical condition at a Nashville -area hospital and is on a ventilator.
Pike was taken to a Nashville-area hospital on September 30 after getting two doses of pentobarbital. As per an emergency court motion filed on October 2, she was intubated, on a ventilator and unconscious. Shipp was convicted of the same charges and got a life sentence with a chance of parole, plus 25 years for conspiracy.
As per The New York Times , her lawyers said in a Friday court filing that she was still critically ill. They said the records could show evidence of “incompetent and reckless actions. He said Governor Bill Lee should commute Pike’s death sentence to life in prison “at the very least. The US Supreme Court has said a person cannot be executed if they do not have a “rational understanding” of why they are being put to death.
Both her arms were swollen, burned and blistered when she reached the hospital. They wrote: “Hospital staff are working to save Ms. Pike’s life and to clear the pentobarbital from her system. Her lawyers have also asked a Nashville judge to order the state to preserve all prison records related to the execution attempt. The records include the training and job records of the execution team, details about the medical equipment used and any “biological or chemical residue. Her competence could matter a lot if the state tries again, as per The New York Times. Pike was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and was sentenced to death. Peterson pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact and got six years of probation.
