Christa Pike’s handcuffs came off in her hospital room this week, though one ankle remains chained to the bed as the 50-year-old recovers from becoming the first American death row inmate to survive a lethal injection.
Her attorney, Luke Ihnen, disclosed the restraint change in a court filing Thursday after visiting Pike the day before at a Nashville-area medical facility. The filing came one day after he asked a judge to free her hands so doctors could better treat her.
“Ms. Pike’s handcuffs have been removed; however, one foot remains shackled to the bed,” Ihnen wrote in the filing.
“Ms. Pike is under guard by three, armed corrections officers,” he continued. “Ms. Pike is not an escape risk. Nor is she physically capable of doing so.”
The medical staff treating Pike had requested the handcuffs be removed, prompting the Wednesday court hearing where Ihnen made the formal ask.
Pike’s condition has shifted dramatically since Monday night, when her own lawyers believed she was brain dead and expected her to be taken off life support Tuesday. She woke up and began talking that morning instead. By Wednesday afternoon, she was taking assisted steps.
The Tennessee Department of Correction attempted to execute Pike on Sept. 30 using pentobarbital. Officials administered two doses of the drug before calling off the procedure when they could not establish a proper IV line. Pike was then transported from the Nashville prison to the hospital for treatment.
She had been on death row for nearly three decades following her conviction for the January 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer, a 19-year-old Job Corps classmate. Pike was 18 at the time of the killing, which prosecutors described as particularly brutal. She received her death sentence for the slaying.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee halted all remaining executions scheduled for this year after the failed procedure and ordered an independent review into what went wrong. The state has not said whether it will attempt to reschedule Pike’s execution.
Pike’s legal team has pressed Lee to commute her sentence to life in prison without parole, arguing she should not face a second execution attempt.
The governor’s moratorium leaves Pike’s ultimate fate unresolved as she continues her unexpected recovery under armed watch.