Christa Pike Conscious and Speaking After Surviving Tennessee Execution Attempt
publishers 91articles 194first reported 1 Oct, 10:15 UTCdeveloping since 1 Oct · 18 editionstop 25 #22
Christa Pike is conscious and speaking after surviving Tennessee’s attempt to execute her by lethal injection last week, her attorneys said Tuesday. The 50-year-old remains hospitalized with severe injuries to both arms.
Pike received two doses of pentobarbital but continued breathing after the state’s execution procedure. In a court filing made while she was unconscious and critically ill, her lawyers said she had been intubated and placed on a ventilator as doctors worked to clear the drug from her system. They said both arms were swollen, burned and blistered when she reached the hospital.
Her legal team alleges that improperly placed intravenous lines allowed the pentobarbital to enter tissue rather than her bloodstream and that execution personnel failed to recognize the problem before administering a second dose. An attorney who witnessed the attempt told NPR that staff spent nearly an hour trying to establish IV access and used at least seven needles on Pike’s left arm.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee suspended executions for the rest of the year and ordered an independent review of the state’s procedures. Pike’s lawyers have asked that records connected to the execution attempt be preserved and have called for her death sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 torture and murder of Colleen Slemmer. She is Tennessee’s only female death-row prisoner and would have been the first woman executed by the state in more than 200 years.
HOW THIS STORY WAS MADE
Written from 8 articles, 4 with the publisher's own text; 8 independent newsrooms once syndicated copies count as one; this version written 146 h after the record first saw the story; the editor revised it.
- Publishers
- 91
- Source articles
- 194
- Given to the writer
- 8, 4 with the article's own text
- Independent newsrooms
- 8
- This version written
- 146 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: The story is publishable after no material corrections; listed concerns are supported by the sources and do not require changes. - "Tennessee Governor Bill Lee suspended executions for the rest of the year and ordered an independent review of the state’s procedures.": The sources say Lee halted or suspended executions for the rest of the year while the state investigates, and the BBC says he ordered an independent review into procedures; phrasing that he both suspended and ordered a review is supported, but 'independent review' is only in the BBC. This is not a material issue. - "Pike’s lawyers have asked that records connected to the execution attempt be preserved": The sources say the emergency request was to preserve state records related to her execution; this is supported. This is not a material issue.
THE DRAFT AND THE CHANGES
Christa Pike Conscious and Speaking After Surviving Tennessee Execution Attempt
Christa Pike is conscious and speaking after surviving Tennessee’s attempt to execute her by lethal injection last week, her attorneys said Tuesday. The 50-year-old remains hospitalized with severe injuries to both arms. Pike received two doses of pentobarbital but continued breathing after the state’s execution procedure. In a court filing made while she was unconscious and critically ill, her lawyers said she had been intubated and placed on a ventilator as doctors worked to clear the drug from her system. They said both arms were swollen, burned and blistered when she reached the hospital. Her legal team alleges that improperly placed intravenous lines allowed the pentobarbital to enter tissue rather than her bloodstream and that execution personnel failed to recognize the problem before administering a second dose. An attorney who witnessed the attempt told NPR that staff spent nearly an hour trying to establish IV access and used at least seven needles on Pike’s left arm. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee suspended executions for the rest of the year and ordered an independent review of the state’s procedures. Pike’s lawyers have asked that records connected to the execution attempt be preserved and have called for her death sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment. Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 torture and murder of Colleen Slemmer. She is Tennessee’s only female death-row prisoner and would have been the first woman executed by the state in more than 200 years.
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 →