NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Christa Pike was “angry and confused” in the hours after regaining consciousness following Tennessee’s failed execution attempt, first asking, “Where am I?” her lawyer said Wednesday.
Pike, who was sentenced to death for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer, is aware of what happened to her , at least up to a point, Spivey said. 30 has renewed scrutiny of how states carry out the death penalty , in particular the use of lethal injection.
Pike, believed to be the first person to survive after receiving lethal injection drugs during an execution, stunningly woke up as plans were being made to remove her from life support, just six days after she was strapped to a gurney in the death chamber, said attorney Randy Spivey. Her lawyers said Wednesday that she has suffered enough and want the governor to commute her sentence. “She is angry and confused about everything right now,” Randy Spivey said during a news conference following a court hearing about preserving evidence. The Death Penalty Information Center says Pike is the first person to survive after receiving lethal injection drugs during an execution. At the hearing Wednesday, a judge told the state that the Tennessee Department of Correction needs to save evidence including “anything that was in the actual room. Ayers, assistant attorney general, said some evidence from the death chamber already had been collected and logged.
The failed execution on Sept. Texas was set to carry out Wednesday the first execution in the U.S. since Tennessee attempted to put Pike to death. The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office had argued a court order was unnecessary. John W. He declined to comment after the hearing.
A judge in Nashville told the state on Wednesday to save evidence from the execution attempt as Pike’s attorneys try to find out more.
