Death row inmate Christa Pike claimed that her arm felt like it was going to “burst open” during her failed execution, according to an eyewitness.
Tori Gessner, a reporter for Nashville’s WKRN, detailed what happened after Pike, 50, received the lethal injection on Wednesday, September 30, at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution.
“At one point, she said, ‘My arm feels like it’s about to burst open,’” Gessner recalled during a news conference following the attempted execution. “The curtains close at first, but she was clearly still alive. She was clearly still breathing and snoring.”
Gessner said that Pike became conscious again and started smiling “really big” before she started to discuss “the one spot” on her arm again.
“Her [spiritual] advisor tells her to ‘relax,’ and she replies, ‘I’m trying,’” Gessner said. “She continues talking throughout this, before her breathing shifts and she starts moaning and snoring.”
Another witness that saw Pike’s failed execution told AP News that Pike said “she was at peace and leaving the world in love and that this would be a happy day.”
After Pike received two lethal injections that did not kill her, she was transported to a hospital.
An attorney for the convicted killer told TMZ in a statement on Thursday, October 1, “Christa is critically ill but not in a coma as I understand it.”
She is still unconscious and unable to communicate. The attorney said that the Tennessee Supreme Court will now have to set a new date before they can try to execute her a third time, which may come to a halt until the independent investigation is complete.
In light of the failed execution, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee halted executions until a third party can review what went wrong.
“Carrying out a lawfully imposed sentence is among the State’s most serious responsibilities, and the people of Tennessee expect it to be done in a manner that is not only legal and constitutional, but is effective,” Lee said in a statement on Wednesday, September 30, according to The Tennessean. “Therefore, the remaining scheduled execution will not be carried out this year.”
Due to the decision, Gary Wayne Sutton’s execution was canceled before it was scheduled to take place on December 3.
Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 after she pleaded guilty to murdering classmate Colleen Slemmer in 1995. She was only 18 at the time of the killing.
If her execution had been successful, Pike would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. She is currently the only woman in the state on death row.
Pike’s attorneys issued a statement on September 30, saying that “the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution.”
“We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms. Pike proved to be true: difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy,” the statement read. “Christa is being treated at a nearby hospital. We have not been informed as to her condition.”
