Christa Pike Remains Critically Ill After Failed Tennessee Execution
publishers 76articles 152first reported 1 Oct, 10:15 UTCdeveloping since 1 Oct · 18 editions
Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike remained hospitalized on a ventilator Monday after surviving an execution attempt in which officials administered two doses of pentobarbital, according to her attorneys.
In a Friday court filing, Pike’s legal team said she was unconscious and critically ill while doctors worked to clear the execution drug from her system. The attorneys said both her arms were swollen, burned and blistered when she reached a Nashville hospital. They alleged that improperly placed or failed intravenous lines allowed some or all of the pentobarbital to enter her body rather than her bloodstream.
Attorney Randy Spivey, who witnessed the attempt, told NPR that execution personnel spent nearly an hour trying to establish IV access and used at least seven needles on Pike’s left arm. He said Pike continued breathing after both doses were administered. Her lawyers have characterized the attempt as “chemical torture” and renewed their request that Gov. Bill Lee commute her sentence to life imprisonment.
Lee halted Tennessee executions for the remainder of the year and ordered an independent review. He told reporters that, based on information then available, the Department of Correction appeared to have followed its written protocol.
Pike, 50, was sentenced to death for the 1995 torture and murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. She was 18 at the time of the crime and is Tennessee’s only woman on death row.
HOW THIS STORY WAS MADE
Written from 8 articles, 4 with the publisher's own text; 6 independent newsrooms once syndicated copies count as one (5 if wire copies count as one too); this version written 98 h after the record first saw the story; the editor revised it.
- Publishers
- 76
- Source articles
- 152
- Given to the writer
- 8, 4 with the article's own text
- Independent newsrooms
- 6 (5 if wire copies count as one)
- This version written
- 98 h after the record first saw the story
- Second model (editor)
- revised
- Publication gate
- passed
- Human review
- none
WHAT THE EDITOR DID
The second model checked the writer's draft against the same sources and changed it before publication. Struck words were in the draft; underlined words are its corrections.
WHAT IT FLAGGED editor revise: One medical detail needed to be corrected to match the sources. - "They alleged that improperly placed or failed intravenous lines allowed some or all of the pentobarbital to enter tissue rather than her bloodstream.": The sources say Pike's lawyers alleged the drug entered her body rather than her bloodstream; they do not specifically say it entered tissue.
THE DRAFT AND THE CHANGES
Christa Pike Remains Critically Ill After Failed Tennessee Execution
Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike remained hospitalized on a ventilator Monday after surviving an execution attempt in which officials administered two doses of pentobarbital, according to her attorneys.
In a Friday court filing, Pike’s legal team said she was unconscious and critically ill while doctors worked to clear the execution drug from her system. The attorneys said both her arms were swollen, burned and blistered when she reached a Nashville hospital. They alleged that improperly placed or failed intravenous lines allowed some or all of the pentobarbital to enter tissueher body rather than her bloodstream.
Attorney Randy Spivey, who witnessed the attempt, told NPR that execution personnel spent nearly an hour trying to establish IV access and used at least seven needles on Pike’s left arm. He said Pike continued breathing after both doses were administered. Her lawyers have characterized the attempt as “chemical torture” and renewed their request that Gov. Bill Lee commute her sentence to life imprisonment.
Lee halted Tennessee executions for the remainder of the year and ordered an independent review. He told reporters that, based on information then available, the Department of Correction appeared to have followed its written protocol.
Pike, 50, was sentenced to death for the 1995 torture and murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. She was 18 at the time of the crime and is Tennessee’s only woman on death row.
Written by a language model from the sources above, then checked by a second model that may only cut, attribute or correct. How it works →