Christa Pike’s death sentence could be overturned after a “torturous” execution attempt left her in a critical condition in hospital. The botched lethal injection has sparked widespread outrage across the US – and led to the immediate suspension of another killer’s scheduled execution. Pike, 50, survived a double dose of pentobarbital after prison staff used at least seven needles to administer the fatal drug. The horrifying ordeal left her thrashing on the gurney, complaining that her arm felt like it was going to explode. She is currently under armed guard in intensive care, hooked up to a ventilator. Medical staff have warned she may have suffered permanent brain damage as they work to revive her.
Her attorney, Stephen Ferrell, is now calling on Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute Pike’s sentence to life in prison. Mr Ferrell said: “We don’t know what her physical state will be, but it is clear that she has endured a torturous attempt at executing her.”
Pike became the youngest woman sentenced to death in the US in over two centuries after being convicted for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer. Along with her then-boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, Pike tortured and killed Slemmer before keeping a piece of her victim’s skull as a souvenir.
The fallout from her failed execution has granted a reprieve to 57-year-old death row inmate Gary Wayne Sutton, who was due to be executed on December 3. Sutton has spent more than 30 years behind bars following his 1993 conviction for the murders of his brother Tommy Griffin, 24, and sister Connie Branam, 34.
Tommy was found shot in the head, while Connie’s body was discovered five days later inside a burnt-out car. Sutton has consistently maintained his innocence.
His legal team points out that key medical evidence used in his original trial was later discredited, leading to the trial examiner losing their license. Following the pause on his sentence, Sutton’s lawyers released a statement addressing the horrifying events: “This news gives us little joy, because nobody should be forced to suffer the way Christa Pike did this week and Tony Carruthers did in May.
“Still, we are relieved that Governor Lee is taking the deep problems with the state’s execution protocols seriously, and we are thankful that Gary’s execution has been paused.”
Tony Carruthers is a Tennessee death row inmate sentenced in 1993 for a triple murder in Memphis, despite maintaining his innocence for decades amid unexamined DNA evidence. On May 21, his execution was abruptly called off after prison staff spent over an hour making agonising, unsuccessful attempts to set an IV line across multiple limbs, causing severe bleeding. The harrowing ordeal, coupled with the revelation that the presiding medical personnel lacked recent clinical IV experience, forced Governor Bill Lee to grant Carruthers a one-year reprieve from death.
In the medical complaint filed by his sister, she alleged Carruthers has since suffered a stroke and is now paralysed on the right side of his body.
