Christa Pike returns to prison after surviving Nashville execution attempt
Condemned inmate Christa Pike returned to a Nashville prison on Saturday after surviving a state lethal injection attempt. The transfer followed her discharge from an area hospital, according to a written statement from her legal team. Pike is 50 years old.
She is back at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center. That is the women’s prison where she lived for 30 years.
“She is grateful to the first responders and her medical team for their care in these extraordinary circumstances. She is continuing to receive medical care at the prison, and we will continue to track her recovery,” the statement said.
Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital during the Sept. 30 execution attempt in Nashville. The state sought to execute her for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer.
She was on a ventilator at one point. Her attorneys did not expect her to survive. Pike later woke up, talked, and walked with assistance.
The Death Penalty Information Center says Pike is the first person to survive after receiving lethal injection drugs.
The Tennessee Department of Correction has not said what went wrong. Medical and lethal injection experts focused on whether IV line problems caused the drug to pool in tissue.
Her lawyers detailed the problem in a court filing. They wrote that “apparently at no point did any member of the execution team realize that the IV lines were not correctly placed.”
Officials asked Pike for a final statement. She spoke of being at peace. She raised her head five minutes later and said her arm hurt.
She later appeared to lose consciousness. She breathed heavily until staff escorted media witnesses out nearly 90 minutes into the execution. An ambulance took her to a hospital.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee postponed the state’s only other execution scheduled this year. He ordered a review of the event. The state prison chief resigned.
The Tennessee Department of Correction oversees state prisons and carries out capital punishment orders. The Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center houses female state prisoners in Nashville. State reviews examine protocol steps after an execution is stopped.
Pike continues to receive medical treatment inside the facility.
