Christa Pike was set to be executed on September 30, but survived despite two attempts to kill her by lethal injection. Now, a legal expert has explained whether she could potentially face another execution attempt.
Pike was sentenced to death in 1996, becoming the youngest woman on death row in modern U.S. history. At the time, she was only 18 years old and had been convicted of the brutal killing and torture of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.
After nearly three decades on death row, Pike was scheduled to be executed on September 30. But despite two attempts at lethal injection, she survived and was rushed to a hospital, where she remains unconscious in a heavily guarded hospital room.
In a statement after the incident, a spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Corrections said: “The Tennessee Department of Corrections followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office.
“The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective, and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out this evening. Christa Pike has been transported to an off-site medical facility.”
Christa Pike survived execution attempt
The failed execution has now raised questions about Pike’s legal and medical status, including whether Tennessee could make another attempt to carry out her death sentence.
Professor Deborah Denno of Fordham University School of Law in New York said: “She can’t be executed if she is brain injured and doesn’t understand the proceedings,” according to the New York Post.
“The United States Supreme Court recognized in a case involving a dementia patient in 2019 that you can’t execute someone who’s not aware of the punishment that they’re going to receive.”
The Fifth Amendment protects people from double jeopardy, preventing someone from being prosecuted more than once for the same offense. If Pike survives and is found mentally competent, Denno said she could have a “strong argument” for double jeopardy.
Pike’s lawyers have urged Gov. Bill Lee to commute her sentence, but legal expert Michael Meltsner said: “I doubt whether that would happen in this case, because of the nature of the crime, and because the governor seems extremely responsive to the victim’s family.
“For instance, the governor could commute her sentence to 30 years in jail, but that’s unlikely to happen here.”
Eric Berger, an Earl Dunlap Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Nebraska, told Newsweek that existing legal precedent largely supports scheduling another execution attempt.
“Probably,” he said when asked whether the state could legally attempt to execute her again. “The Supreme Court in Louisiana ex rel. Francis v. Resweber found that the Eighth Amendment does not categorically bar a state from attempting a second execution after the first execution attempt fails.”
What happens next?
Pike’s condition could further complicate what happens next. If she survives but is left with serious brain injuries, she could potentially spend the rest of her life in a hospital rather than return to death row.
There is precedent for failed executions resulting in prolonged legal battles. In some cases, inmates remained on death row after IV problems or other procedural failures, while others were executed at a later date after the state revised its procedures.
For some prisoners, however, a failed execution led to years of additional legal proceedings — and in certain cases, their death sentences were ultimately reduced to life in prison.
Speaking to CNN, Pike’s attorney Stephen Ferrell said: “We don’t know what her physical state will be, but it is clear that she has endured a tortuous attempt at executing her, and we had already asked that the governor commute her for many good reasons.
“She’s spent over 30 years in prison, most of that in solitary confinement, only to be taken out and not executed, but tried to execute her.
“We don’t know right now, and we may never know, what kind of torture she endured during that process.”
For now, authorities have not said whether they will make another attempt to execute Pike.
“If she recovers – she may not fully recover – and there may be issues about her competence. I mean, we just don’t know any of this,” Ferrell said, according to the BBC. “We have had no discussions about this. The Tennessee attorney general’s office so far has not given us any indications of what their intentions will be.”
That leaves Pike’s future uncertain. Whether she remains hospitalized, returns to death row or ultimately faces another execution attempt could depend on both her medical condition and the legal questions surrounding the failed execution.
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