Christa Pike Awake, Talking 6 Days After Failed Execution
The Facts
- Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike is conscious and speaking at a hospital six days after a failed lethal injection left her unconscious and on a ventilator, her attorneys said Tuesday. They described her recovery as "medically unprecedented."
- Pike, 50, survived two doses of pentobarbital during last Wednesday's attempt to execute her. Her lawyers said she remains "handcuffed and shackled to the bed" despite severe damage to her arms, which were left burned and blistered.
- The execution team spent about an hour trying to establish an IV line and used at least seven needles, attorney Randy Spivey said, adding that one appeared bent when it was removed. Her lawyers had warned the state about her vein access problems.
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The Spin
Left narrative
A woman who endured childhood rape, decades of solitary confinement and two full rounds of lethal chemicals has already paid a price no civilized state should impose. Surviving something no one else in the country has survived is a sign that this punishment has gone far past justice into cruelty. Commutation to life without parole is the only decent path left.
Right narrative
A jury handed down a death sentence for the torture and murder of a teenage girl, and a failed needle doesn't erase that verdict. Taxpayers now fund emergency care to preserve a life the law already ordered forfeited, while the victim's family watches the killer get the second chance their daughter was denied. Tennessee owes that family a completed sentence.