Christa Pike's lawyers call for investigation and access to syringes used in attempted execution

Christa Pike, 50, was taken unconscious to hospital after two injections of pentobarbital failed to cause her death

By Reuters

Christa Pike's lawyers should ask the court to inspect the syringes and other equipment used in the unsuccessful attempt to execute her. According to this Wednesday's announcement (7), lawyers are trying to obtain information about execution procedures, which are normally kept confidential in Tennessee and other American states.

Pike, 50, was sentenced to death for the murder of a colleague in 1995, when she was 18.

She was taken unconscious and in critical condition to a Nashville hospital, with serious injuries to her arms. This happened after two injections of the barbiturate pentobarbital failed to kill her at the maximum security Riverbend prison last Wednesday.

According to his lawyers, Pike regained consciousness and was able to speak on Tuesday. She remains handcuffed to the hospital bed.

Lawyers say the botched execution, the second this year in Tennessee, amounts to torture and violates the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits cruel or unusual punishment.

Pike was sentenced to death for participating, as a teenager, in the torture and murder of Colleen Slemmer, her 19-year-old high school classmate, in 1995.

According to lawyers, she is the first known person to survive an execution attempt that was initiated in the United States.

They will ask the Davidson County Court of Chancery to order Tennessee authorities to preserve all evidence related to the attempted execution.

The list includes syringes, packaging and batch numbers of medications, catheters, intravenous tubes and equipment used to strap Pike to the gurney.

The lawyers also want “immediate access to Ms. Pike to independently document her health status.”

They also ask that the Tennessee Department of Corrections allow the collection of possible traces of the drugs used in the execution for chemical analysis.

The Tennessee Department of Corrections opposes the request.

According to the agency, the measure would be “duplicated and unnecessary”, because authorities are already obliged by law to preserve all evidence. The department stated this to Judge I’Ashea Myles.

Tennessee and other American states have faced difficulties obtaining medications used in executions for years.

Big pharmaceutical companies do not supply these products because of a European trade ban against companies that sell drugs for use in torture or executions.

Like other states, Tennessee began to use small compounding pharmacies to produce medicines.

These pharmacies, for the most part, are not subject to the same rules as large manufacturers. They produce small quantities of the medicines and have their identity protected by the authorities.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee of the Republican Party denied Pike's request for clemency to have his sentence converted to life in prison.

He called the botched execution a tragedy. He also suspended executions in the state until the end of the year and promised an investigation.

Pike's lawyers had asked that a method other than lethal injection be used.

They said they warned authorities that the convict's small veins and other health problems could increase the risk of something going wrong.