Christa Pike's lawyers are calling on Tennessee Gov.Bill Lee to commute her death sentence to life in prison after she remained alive following two doses of lethal injection drugs in what one death penalty expert described as an unprecedented event.Pike, who was sentenced to death for a 1995 murder of a classmate, was rushed to a hospital Wednesday night after surviving her planned execution.
Her lawyers said on Thursday that she remains in critical condition and is receiving "lifesaving medical care.""We don’t have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment," attorney Randy Spivey said during a news conference."But we know she is alive right now."The botched execution prompted Lee to halt any further efforts to carry out Pike's execution and the state’s other execution scheduled this year.
He also ordered a third-party review into Pike's execution, which he called "deeply disturbing."CHRISTA PIKE'S ATTORNEYS SAY SHE'S IN CRITICAL CONDITION AFTER BOTCHED LETHAL INJECTIONSChrista Gail Pike is seen during her trial for the murder of Colleen A.Slemmer.
(USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)Pike's lawyers are now calling for her death sentence to be commuted.Her lawyers filed an emergency motion with the Tennessee Supreme Court seeking to immediately halt and stay the execution, noting that she was in "unnecessary agony" and arguing that putting her through another attempted execution violated her right to be put to death without cruel and unusual punishment.Death Penalty Information Center Executive Director Robin Maher, who called the failed execution "completely unprecedented," also urged the governor to commute Pike's sentence."Given the experience that Christa Pike went through last night, after a childhood and young adulthood that was full of gender based violence and abuse, it would be irresponsible for state officials to put her through another attempt at execution.I really hope that in light of what she's experienced, that the ...