Tennessee weighs next step on Christa Pike after failed execution, with legal hurdles ahead

Left · 2Christa Pike, 50, survived two doses of pentobarbital during a lethal injection attempt in Tennessee, where she was sentenced to death for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer. 1 2 Left · 2According to the Independent, Pike spoke of being at peace when asked for a final statement, then said her arm hurt and lost consciousness, and media witnesses were escorted out before an ambulance took her to hospital. CBC reported the attempt left her unconscious and on a ventilator with severe arm injuries. 2 1 Left · 2The Death Penalty Information Center says Pike is the first person to survive after being injected with lethal execution drugs. CBC adds that seven other people have survived failed attempts in which staff could not establish IV lines. 1 2

Left · 1Pike was discharged from hospital on 10 October and returned to the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center in Nashville, where she is receiving care. Her attorneys said she woke with no memory of the ordeal and was "angry and confused", and that her prognosis remains unclear. 2 Left · 1Her lawyers said on 7 October that she was talking but had problems with concentration and memory, and that it could "take months to fully understand whether she sustained lasting cognitive injuries." 1 Left · 1Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, halted executions through the end of the year and ordered a comprehensive third-party review. A Tennessee judge ordered all evidence from the attempt preserved for a full investigation. 1

Left · 1Asked on Wednesday 28 October whether the state would try again or commute her sentence, Lee said: "I suspect her sentence will be the same as before unless determined otherwise by the courts." 2 Left · 1Corrections Commissioner Frank Strada has announced his resignation, while anti-death penalty activists call for Pike's sentence to be commuted to life without parole. 2 Left · 1Legal experts told CBC that a second attempt could face double jeopardy and Eighth Amendment challenges. Law professors Emily Hughes and Deborah Denno said the double jeopardy argument is strong because Pike has already been subjected to lethal injection; Hughes said the state could counter that the punishment is death and Pike is still alive. 1

Left · 1On cruel and unusual punishment, Denno said the evidence of a substantial risk of severe pain already exists. Hughes noted that the US Supreme Court let Louisiana retry Willie Francis after a 1946 electric chair malfunction, though the defence could argue standards of decency have since evolved. 1 Left · 1Pike's mental state could also matter: the Supreme Court bars executing people with certain intellectual disabilities or who do not understand why they are being punished, and Denno said her intellectual capacity is not clearly known. 1 Left · 1Lee's term ends on 16 January 2027, so a successor may decide her fate. Lee denied her clemency request last month and, per DPI, has never commuted a death sentence. Republican candidate Sen. Marsha Blackburn suggested Pike should face the electric chair, which she would restore, while Democratic candidate Jerri Green opposes capital punishment and would impose a moratorium. 1