Christa Pike was alive Thursday afternoon, according to her lawyers, who called on the governor to commute her sentence after what they described as a “cruel” and “torturous” botched execution.
Her lawyers said Pike was in critical condition and receiving life-saving care, as of 1 p.m. CST. They said they had not seen her in the hospital or had direct contact with her.
Randy Spivey, of the Tennessee Office of the Post-Conviction Defender, witnessed the execution attempt at Nashville’s Riverbend Maximum Security Institution.
Here is what he told reporters from across the country in an afternoon news conference:
I think I should probably start by saying Christa is alive right now. We don’t have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment. But we do know that that she is alive right now and receiving life-saving medical care.
The state of Tennessee has shown us again that they are not capable of carrying out an execution consistent with basic human dignity.
Last night was not just inefficient. It was cruel, and it was torturous. It was also predictable. Christa’s legal team told the state of Tennessee and the courts that her medical conditions would cause her to suffer an agonizing death.
The state and the courts dismiss Christa’s concerns. The governor’s call for an independent review does not go far enough.
After having endured solitary confinement for more than 20 years and a full attempt to kill her by lethal injection, Christa has endured punishment greater than any other person in the history of the American death penalty. The governor must commute Christa’s sentence now.
Since before Christa Pike could talk, she has suffered at the hands of men and institutions who were at best indifferent to her suffering, and at worst, the direct cause of it. And last night, the execution team attempted to establish an IV line for an hour. I counted at least seven needles used in her left arm alone. One of which appeared to be bent when it was pulled from her arm after an unsuccessful attempt.
The state continued its efforts despite the very complications that we had warned about in court months earlier.
Christa’s spiritual advisor was repeatedly removed from her side, from the execution chamber during the process, despite, as many of the media have already reported, Christa continuing to show signs of life. And this, despite what appeared to be two full doses of the lethal drugs.
The media was left in the in a dark room, clearly hearing Christa breathe, and choke, and struggle while the state worked in secrecy.
After the second dose of the lethal chemicals and the five-minute waiting period passed, it was clear that Ms. Pike was still breathing. I demanded to use a phone to connect… to connect with Christa’s legal team to let them know what was happening, as best I could, again, from a dark room.
The curtains were closed and Ms. Pike’s spiritual advisor had been removed from her side at this point, and no one knew what was going on behind that curtain.
It took approximately seven minutes and I passed through six locked doors to finally get me to a phone where I could alert Chris’s legal team to what was happening.
A full 40 minutes after the first dose of chemicals were given to Christa, I was returned to an area near the media room where I demanded that the execution be stopped and that life-saving medical care be given to Christa. I did not get any information or confirmation that an ambulance was on its way until 8:50 p.m.
I had no idea when and if medical professionals began to assist Christa.
