Christa Pike woke up “angry and confused” after her family was told she was brain dead and would be removed from life support.
Her aunt, Carrie Ross, the sister of Pike’s late mother, said that relatives received the devastating news following failed attempts to rouse the 50-year-old from a coma. “We got word that she was brain dead and they were taking her off the ventilator,” Ross said. “They were going to let her go – let her die – at 1 o’clock tomorrow. That was yesterday or a day before.”
Instead, Pike regained consciousness on Tuesday, nearly a week after Tennessee tried to execute her by lethal injection on September 30. She survived two doses of the drug pentobarbital, making her the first person known to survive a lethal injection of that particular drug.
Ross said none of the family have been able to speak with Pike since she woke up handcuffed to her hospital bed. Relatives have relied on her attorneys, who told them she “knew who she was and where she was.” “This whole week has been a blur,” Ross said.
Pike’s legal team had reached the same grim conclusion as her family. Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, one of her lawyers, Randy Spivey, said: “On Monday night, it was our understanding that Christa was brain dead and that life support would be removed the next day,” He added: “I do not have an explanation for what happened between Monday night and Tuesday morning, but what we do know is Christa has a long road to recovery.”
Her lawyers say she woke “against all odds” and can speak, though her talking is “limited.” Her team said on Wednesday that she has a blood clot in one arm and pneumonia. She cannot move either arm or swallow, and has not eaten since waking up. “Both of her arms and hands are tremendously swollen and we do not know what if any function she will regain in her arms,” Spivey said.
Her lawyers said she was hit with at least seven needles during the execution attempt, and that at one point she directed prison staff where to inject her. As far as her attorneys know, Pike’s first words were “Where am I?” and “Who are you?” She has shown signs of “cognitive confusion,” but has asked what happened and is “very aware” the state tried to execute her. She has also asked about her team and the victim’s family.
“I think she is angry and confused about everything right now,” Spivey told reporters.
Dr Joel Zivot, an anesthesiologist advising her team, said: “She does not have any memory of the execution itself, but does have some memory of at least being a patient in the hospital on a ventilator,” Zivot said her recovery will be key: “If Christa Pike returns to her normal neurologic self – that is to know who she is, where she is and what she’s done – then she certainly faces the prospect of another attempt at executing her.” “If on the other hand she has suffered some permanent cognitive decline that makes it more difficult for her to know, then that may be exculpatory,” he added.
Pike’s attorneys said on Wednesday that the state has made “no promises” it will not try again. Her lawyers also won a court fight on Wednesday to preserve evidence including the drugs, IV lines and surveillance footage, laying the groundwork for possible legal action against Tennessee.
Pike spent 30 years on death row after being found guilty of murdering her 19-year-old college classmate Colleen Slemmer in 1995. Pike, then 18, believed Slemmer was trying to steal her boyfriend and led her to the woods before torturing and bludgeoning her. Before the execution, Pike’s team argued that a blood condition and small veins could make inserting an IV difficult. Court documents obtained by The U.S. Sun showed her lawyers specifically warned she could survive. The Tennessee Supreme Court rejected their argument that the state’s protocol had no plan for medical care if she survived. It said the state was “under no obligation to attempt revival” and called her fears “too speculative.” The judges also noted pentobarbital had been used in more than 100 executions “without incident.”
Others have survived execution attempts when executioners failed to get IV access, including Tony Carruthers in Tennessee.