In the execution attempt carried out in the US state of Tennessee on Wednesday, two lethal doses were given to Christa Pike, who was sentenced to death for killing her classmate in 1995. However, the procedure failed due to the drugs not reaching the bloodstream as expected.
Medical personnel administered at least seven injections to reach Pike's vein, according to court documents. According to his lawyers, one of the needles was bent at a 90-degree angle when it was removed.
It took the execution team about an hour to establish the intravenous line. Pike's attorney, Randy Spivey, said his client tried to assist team members in establishing an intravenous line, even asking them to show them different areas several times. It was also reported that Pike cooperated with the team during the interventions performed on him and thanked the staff when the intravenous line was opened.
Then the first dose of the deadly chemical was administered. However, Pike's pain was soon reflected in the execution chamber. “My arm feels like it's going to explode,” he cried. Then he asked the execution team, which consisted entirely of women, "Is this exactly how it works?" he asked.
Eyewitnesses reported that Pike was crying, out of breath and talking about the pain in his arm. According to witnesses, Pike lifted his head after a while and looked at the intravenous line.
The curtain in the execution chamber was closed after a while. According to witnesses, Pike was still moving and making sounds when the curtain reopened after the second lethal dose was administered.
Pike appeared to lose consciousness but continued to breathe. After a while, he was heard making sounds similar to snoring.
The sounds coming from the execution chamber continued for about an hour. The microphone was then turned off and witnesses were asked to leave the area.
Despite two lethal doses, Pike did not lose her life, so emergency response teams stepped in and the woman was taken to the hospital.
In documents submitted to the court by Pike's lawyers on Friday, it was stated that both of the woman's arms were swollen, severely burned and blistered when she arrived at the hospital.
Experts consulted by Pike's defense team argued that if the lethal substance leaked out of the vein, it could cause serious damage to the surrounding tissues. Anesthesiologist Dr. Joel Zivot stated that the drug may have leaked into the surrounding tissues rather than into the vein, and this may have caused serious burns.
Pike's experts stated that the deadly substance is an extremely alkaline substance that can cause a caustic effect when it comes into contact with human skin, tissue and veins, and compared the drug to household chemicals such as "bleach".
Following the execution attempt, Pike's condition was reported to be critical. According to court documents, the woman was placed unconscious on a ventilator and treated at the hospital. His lawyer, Randy Spivey, said Pike likely suffered permanent brain damage after the failed execution attempt.
Pike was recorded as the first known person to survive an execution in which the drugs used in lethal injection were administered.
Before Pike's execution, his lawyers had expressed concerns about lethal injection due to his client's vascular structure and known blood disorder. The defense team had argued that his small veins could make it difficult to establish an intravenous line, making the procedure more risky.
After the execution attempt, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee requested an independent investigation of what happened. The state also halted executions for the rest of the year.
The incident for which Pike was sentenced to death occurred in January 1995. By his own admission, Pike, who was only 18 years old, went into a fit of jealousy and targeted 19-year-old Job Corps classmate Colleen Slemmer. Pike believed Slemmer was trying to take away her boyfriend.
Pike, along with her then-17-year-old boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp and her 18-year-old friend Shadolla Peterson, took Slemmer to a secluded area on the University of Tennessee's Knoxville campus.
Here the young woman was tortured. Pike hit Slemmer in the head with a piece of asphalt, killing him, and then kept a piece of the victim's skull as a souvenir.
Pike was sentenced to death in 1996. The sentences for the other two people in the murder were different: Shipp, who was 17 at the time, received a life sentence due to his age, while Peterson testified against Pike and Shipp and was paroled due to his complicity.
