Christa Pike has remained unconscious and on a ventilator at a hospital in the days after her failed execution attempt in Tennessee, her lawyer said.
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Christa Pike has remained unconscious and on a ventilator at a hospital in the four days since her failed execution in Tennessee, and her prognosis might not be known for days more, one of her lawyers said Sunday.
Little has been released publicly about Pike’s condition since Wednesday night’s execution attempt. She has remained hospitalized under guard while doctors work to get the massive dose of the barbiturate pentobarbital out of her system.
Assistant Federal Defender Stephen Ferrell, Pike’s lawyer, said when asked whether she ever regained consciousness after the attempt: “Not that I am aware of.”
Pike is now 50. She was 18 when she and her boyfriend tortured and killed a classmate, Colleen Slemmer, in 1995, and she later became one of the youngest women sent to death row.
Tennessee prison officials gave Pike two doses of the lethal injection drug on Wednesday night. Her lawyers said the pentobarbital did not kill her, but that her arms were burned and blistered from caustic drugs.
Pike has given someone her medical power of attorney, and Ferrell said that person is protecting her privacy. Ferrell said he was not sure what information was given to that person, and Pike’s attorneys have not identified who is making her medical decisions.
A spokeswoman for Pike’s defense team said in a statement early Sunday that “we appreciate all respect for Christa’s rightful privacy.”
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