Experts weigh legal bars to a second execution attempt on Christa Pike after failed lethal injection

Left · 2Christa Pike, 50, a Tennessee death row inmate, survived two doses of pentobarbital during an execution attempt in Nashville on 30 September, and her lawyers say she is now conscious and speaking. 1 2 Left · 1Her attorneys called the recovery "medically unprecedented" and said her arms were left burned and blistered and that she remains shackled to the bed. According to the Mirror, she was left unconscious and on a ventilator, and one of her medical experts said she was still in intensive care. 1 Left · 1ABC News (Australia) reports, citing the Death Penalty Information Center, that she would be the first person to survive the administration of lethal injection drugs. 2

Left · 2Pike was sentenced to death for the murder of Colleen Slemmer; the Mirror dates the killing to 1995, while ABC says 1996 and that Pike was 18. 1 2 Left · 1Experts say a second attempt would raise competency questions, meaning whether Pike can understand why she would be put to death. Dr Joel Zivot, an anesthesiologist who consulted for Pike's legal team, said the development "bodes well for a good recovery" but that it could take weeks or months to know whether her competency could be restored enough for the state to try again. 1 Left · 2Fordham Law professor Deborah Denno said Pike has strong cruel-and-unusual-punishment and double-jeopardy arguments, because "they carried out every aspect of the execution." She told CNN that giving Pike life in prison seemed "the most obvious recourse". 1 2

Left · 1Seattle University law professor Michael Russo doubted the Supreme Court would block a retry on double-jeopardy grounds, saying it might reason that Pike's sentence was to be executed, "not to suffer an attempt at execution." 1 Left · 1The Death Penalty Information Center's Robin Maher called a second attempt "uncharted territory", saying the US Supreme Court has not decided whether a second attempt would violate the constitution since 1947. 2 Left · 1Dr Paul Lucas of East Carolina University said a third-party review would likely determine "what happens next" and that any new attempt would bring substantial litigation. He said he was hesitant to predict what the state would do. 2

Left · 2Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee halted further executions and ordered a comprehensive third-party review of what occurred. ABC adds that all executions are paused for the rest of the year and that the head of the Department of Correction has resigned. 1 2 Left · 1Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the Republican candidate to succeed Lee, called on the state to explore other execution methods so capital punishment can continue. 1 Left · 2Pike's lawyers continue to ask Lee to commute the sentence to life without parole. They allege at least seven syringes were used while trying to set an IV line, one bent at 90 degrees, and that no team member realised the drug was entering tissue rather than the bloodstream. ABC says experts speculate this is what happened, and Pike complained of an arm feeling like it would "burst open". 2 1

Left · 2On Wednesday 7 October, Chancery Court Judge I'Ashea Myles scheduled a status conference on the lawyers' request for an order requiring the Tennessee Department of Correction to preserve evidence, including drug lot numbers and records, from the attempt. ABC puts the hearing at 11am local time. 1 2 Left · 1ABC also recalls that in May the execution of Tony Carruthers was called off after medical staff could not establish an IV line, and he received a one-year reprieve. His lawyers challenged the qualifications of Dr Mark Walton Fowler, who said in a deposition he had no current hospital privileges and had last placed a central line over a decade ago. Fowler said in an August Fox News interview that he would oversee Pike's execution. 2