Christa Pike returns to prison after surviving Tennessee execution attempt
publishers 118articles 165first reported 1 Oct, 08:09 UTCdeveloping since 1 Oct · 20 editions
Christa Pike was discharged from a hospital and returned to a Tennessee prison Saturday, 10 days after surviving the state’s attempt to execute her by lethal injection, her lawyers said.
Pike, 50, is continuing to receive medical care at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, where she had been imprisoned before the Sept. 30 execution attempt. Her lawyers said she was grateful to the first responders and medical team who treated her.
Tennessee administered two doses of pentobarbital while seeking to execute Pike for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer. Pike lost consciousness and remained hospitalized for days, at one point requiring a ventilator. Her attorneys said she later regained consciousness, began speaking and was able to walk with assistance and eat. They have also reported burns and blisters on her arms, pneumonia, a blood clot, and continuing problems with memory and concentration.
The Tennessee Department of Correction has not explained why the drugs failed to kill Pike. Medical and lethal-injection experts have raised the possibility that improperly placed intravenous lines allowed the drug to collect in tissue rather than enter her bloodstream. A judge has ordered the state to preserve evidence related to the procedure.
Gov. Bill Lee postponed Tennessee’s remaining scheduled execution this year and ordered an outside review. His office did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment on whether the state would try again to execute her. Her attorneys are seeking commutation of her sentence to life without parole and say another attempt would prompt extensive legal challenges.
HOW THIS STORY WAS MADE
Written from 8 articles, 6 with the publisher's own text; 8 independent newsrooms once syndicated copies count as one; this version written 218 h after the record first saw the story; the editor revised it.
- Publishers
- 118
- Source articles
- 165
- Given to the writer
- 8, 6 with the article's own text
- Independent newsrooms
- 8
- This version written
- 218 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 overbroad statement about whether Tennessee has addressed a possible second execution should be narrowed to match the sources. - "The state has not said whether it will attempt to execute Pike again.": BBC says Tennessee Assistant Attorney General Will Ayers told a judge he did not know whether the state intends to try to execute Pike again, and ABC says Gov. Lee's office did not respond; the story's broad phrasing could misleadingly imply no state official has addressed it.
THE DRAFT AND THE CHANGES
Christa Pike returns to prison after surviving Tennessee execution attempt
Christa Pike was discharged from a hospital and returned to a Tennessee prison Saturday, 10 days after surviving the state’s attempt to execute her by lethal injection, her lawyers said.
Pike, 50, is continuing to receive medical care at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, where she had been imprisoned before the Sept. 30 execution attempt. Her lawyers said she was grateful to the first responders and medical team who treated her.
Tennessee administered two doses of pentobarbital while seeking to execute Pike for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer. Pike lost consciousness and remained hospitalized for days, at one point requiring a ventilator. Her attorneys said she later regained consciousness, began speaking and was able to walk with assistance and eat. They have also reported burns and blisters on her arms, pneumonia, a blood clot, and continuing problems with memory and concentration.
The Tennessee Department of Correction has not explained why the drugs failed to kill Pike. Medical and lethal-injection experts have raised the possibility that improperly placed intravenous lines allowed the drug to collect in tissue rather than enter her bloodstream. A judge has ordered the state to preserve evidence related to the procedure.
Gov. Bill Lee postponed Tennessee’s remaining scheduled execution this year and ordered an outside review. TheHis office did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment on whether the state haswould nottry said whether it will attemptagain to execute Pike again.her. Her attorneys are seeking commutation of her sentence to life without parole and say another attempt would prompt extensive legal challenges.
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 →