Attorneys for Christa Pike file emergency motion to halt execution after she was ‘still alive and snoring’ after receiving lethal injection
“The vein in my arm feels like it’s about to bust,” one witness recalled her saying.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Attorneys for Christa Pike have filed an emergency motion to halt her execution after they say she is “still alive and snoring” after receiving her lethal injection on Wednesday.
“The vein in my arm feels like it’s about to bust,” one witness recalled her saying.
According to the emergency motion, the Tennessee Department of Correction began the execution of Pike at about 8 p.m. CT. The motion says that both syringes of pentobarbital were administered and that Pike “has not lost consciousness and still has a heartbeat and is audibly snoring.”
The curtains went down twice during the execution.
“It sounded like she was almost choking,” the witness recalled.
The emergency motion filed Wednesday night says that the execution is “causing Ms. Pike unnecessary agony and occurring in violation of [her] right to be executed free of cruel and unusual punishment.”
The motion also demands the Tennessee Department of Correction immediately begin lifesaving measures. WSMV4 observed ambulances arrive at the prison and depart shortly thereafter, with police officers following behind.
“Executions cannot be completed by withholding necessary healthcare once a stay is ordered,” the motion says. “Instead, an inmate’s rights to adequate medical care revert to them. Failure to provide such care constitutes deliberate indifference to legitimate, serious medical needs. Allowing the State to inflict serious injury without providing appropriate, lifesaving medical treatment is itself cruel and unusual punishment.”
Attorneys for Pike released a statement late Wednesday saying that Pike is being treated at a nearby hospital.
“Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution,” they said. “We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms. Pike proved to be true: difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy.”
As of 10:40 p.m. CT, they said they had not been informed about her condition.
Read the motions below:
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