Christa Pike unconscious, on a ventilator after botched execution, attorneys say

Christa Pike is unconscious and using a ventilator to breathe two days after a botched execution by lethal injection in Tennessee, her lawyers said Friday in a new statement and court filing. 

Pike "remains critically ill," is intubated and is receiving medical care at a Nashville-area hospital, her attorneys said.

The new court filing requests an order requiring the Tennessee Department of Correction to "protect and preserve all evidence related to the State's failed attempt" to execute Pike on Wednesday. 

Pike's attorneys said in the court filing that the Tennessee Department of Correction IV team used at least seven needles to try to carry out the execution. At one point, Pike offered guidance on a potential access site, her attorneys said.

One needle was bent at a 90-degree angle when it was removed from her body, according to the filing. Pike could be heard crying, whimpering and breathing loudly throughout the procedure, the filing said, and made comments including saying that her arm felt "like it's about to burst open" and asking "does this happen like that?" 

The request noted that Pike and her lawyers had previously informed the state she had a blood condition that would make it harder for the lethal injection process to be carried out. She had also noted a history of medical professionals struggling to find veins and place IVs. 

Pike also has significant injuries to her arms following the botched execution, her attorneys said. The filing notes that both her arms were found to be "swollen, burned and blistered" when she arrived at the hospital. Pentobarbital can cause burns to the skin and other tissue if it leaks out of the veins, according to experts and Pike's attorneys. 

Pike's lawyers said that the Tennessee Department of Correction IV team did not seem to realize that IVs were not correctly placed or that the veins had blown, causing pentobarbital to enter Pike's body. "Instead of remedying this failure," the execution team administered the second dose of pentobarbital, her lawyers said.

"The botched execution of Ms. Pike makes it abundantly clear that TDOC failed to correctly place or maintain IV lines," they said in the filing. 

Pike's attorneys said that hospital staff are working to save her life and clear the pentobarbital from her system. 

"We are working closely with those closest to Christa to respect her wishes, safeguard her privacy and protect her rights as a patient during this extraordinarily difficult time," said Luke Ihnen, one of Pike's attorneys. 

Pike's lawyers previously called the botched execution "cruel," "torturous" and "predictable." 

"The state of Tennessee has shown us again that they are not capable of carrying out an execution consistent with basic human dignity," attorney Randy Spivey told reporters Thursday. 

Spivey has called on Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to commute Pike's sentence. Her execution is currently on hold after Lee called off the remaining executions scheduled in the state for the rest of the year. He has ordered a "comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what happened." 

Pike was set to become the first woman executed in Tennessee since the 1800s after the Supreme Court ruled that her execution could proceed. She was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of her former classmate, Colleen Slemmer.  

According to court records, Pike and Slemmer were students at the Job Corps Center in Knoxville when Pike, then 18, tortured and killed her, allegedly over comments Slemmer, 19, had made about her relationship. Pike is now 50.