Christa Pike walking and eating after surviving Tennessee execution attempt
publishers 113articles 153first reported 1 Oct, 08:09 UTCdeveloping since 1 Oct · 20 editions
Christa Pike has begun walking with assistance and eating after surviving Tennessee’s attempt to execute her by lethal injection on Sept. 30, her attorneys said Thursday.
Pike, 50, received two doses of pentobarbital but remained alive and was taken to a hospital unconscious and in critical condition. She spent several days on a ventilator before regaining consciousness Tuesday. Her lawyers said she took limited first steps Wednesday and was regaining some movement in her arms Thursday, though the limbs remained burned, blistered and swollen.
Attorney Stephen Ferrell said Pike was mentally “foggy” and continued to have difficulty concentrating and remembering where she was going. Her legal team said doctors could not yet determine whether she would suffer permanent physical or neurological damage.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. It remains unclear whether Tennessee will seek another execution date. Her attorneys have said they will ask Gov. Bill Lee to commute her sentence to life without parole.
Lee has paused Tennessee executions for the rest of the year and ordered an outside review of the failed procedure. A court has also directed state officials to preserve evidence related to the attempt. State officials have not explained why the drugs failed to kill Pike; medical and lethal-injection experts have questioned whether improperly placed intravenous lines caused the drug to enter surrounding tissue instead of her bloodstream.
HOW THIS STORY WAS MADE
Written from 8 articles, 5 with the publisher's own text; 8 independent newsrooms once syndicated copies count as one (7 if wire copies count as one too); this version written 194 h after the record first saw the story; the editor kept it as written.
- Publishers
- 113
- Source articles
- 153
- Given to the writer
- 8, 5 with the article's own text
- Independent newsrooms
- 8 (7 if wire copies count as one)
- This version written
- 194 h after the record first saw the story
- Second model (editor)
- kept as written
- Publication gate
- passed
- Human review
- none
WHAT THE EDITOR DID
The second model checked the writer's draft against the same sources and published it as written.
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