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NASHVILLE — Tennessee’s assistant attorney general revealed the state does not currently have a pending execution order for Christa Pike, but wouldn’t answer whether capital punishment will be rescheduled, a court heard Wednesday.
Convicted murderer Pike, 50, was due to become the first woman to be executed in Tennessee in over 200 years on September 30 but survived two botched attempts to put her death and is awake and speaking in hospital.
Lawyers for Pike and the state appeared Wednesday in Davidson County Chancery Court to argue an emergency motion requiring the Tennessee Department of Correction to protect and preserve all evidence related to the bungled execution.
“There is no pending execution order for Ms. Pike and there is no allegation that one is coming,” Tennessee Assistant Attorney General John W. Ayers told the court.
In the wake of the fiasco, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee halted all remaining executions this year and ordered an independent review.
Judge L’Ashea Myles asked Ayers if the state’s position was that it is not going to revive Pike’s execution order.
Here’s the latest on the botched execution of Tennessee murderer Christa Pike:
- Christa Pike awake and speaking after botched execution attempt: lawyers
- Tennessee’s likely next gov calls Christa Pike’s botched execution reason to ‘bring back the electric chair’
- Christa Pike’s botched execution spares another inmate from being put to death
- Christa Pike’s lawyer calls for death row sentence to be thrown out after ‘tortuous’ failed execution
“I understand that all executions have been suspended for now, is that going to be permanent or is the state prepared to take the position that Ms. Pike will not be rescheduled?” the judge asked.
“I can’t answer that question, I’m not in a position to,” Ayers replied, adding that the decision on whether an execution order is presented was “within the purview of the Tennessee Supreme Court.”
Pike’s lawyer, Luke Ihnen, said “the state has made no promises that Ms. Pike will not be subject to future execution.”
He added that her legal team is seeking evidence to be preserved because it would be “relevant for any future challenge she makes.”
Pike is believed to be the first death row inmate ever to survive lethal injection in the US.
She was handed a death sentence for brutally murdering her 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer in a jealous rage when she was 18 in Jan. 1995.
The prisoner was rushed to hospital after the botched execution last week and was initially said to be unconscious and in a critical condition.
Her lawyers revealed Tuesday that “against all odds” she had regained consciousness and was speaking while she continued to receive “critical medical care.”
Judge Myles said she would make an order granting the motion to preserve evidence, adding, “This case is unique to say the least.”
She said that anything that was in the death chamber “needs to be preserved and maintained,” in addition to surveillance footage or any videos, handwritten notes, witness accounts and encrypted communications.
Her attorneys have called for Gov. Lee to commute her sentence, saying that she has “endured punishment greater than any other person in the history of the American death penalty.”
