The stronger Christa Pike becomes, the greater the possibility that Tennessee could try to execute her again, according to a medical adviser to her legal team.
Pike survived an execution attempt in Tennessee, US, last week.
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The 50-year-old endured two doses of pentobarbital during the state’s effort to put her to death by lethal injection.
She was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer.
Speaking to RTÉ’s Today with David McCullagh, Dr Joel Zivot said the failed procedure did not overturn Pike’s conviction or sentence.
“Her punishment has not been carried out. This was an attempt, and it does not exonerate her, the fact that this failed.”
“But it’s clear that the more that she improves, the more likely she is to be subjected to execution in the future. That’ll be up to the lawyers to debate as to what will happen. But there’s nothing automatically that excludes the state from trying again,” explained Dr Zivot.
Dr Zivot said the immediate priority was to help Pike recover. He said her condition had “greatly improved” since she was first admitted to hospital and that, as of yesterday, she had been taken off a mechanical ventilator and was able to speak.
“She knew who she was and with some information where she was. She didn’t get the month right and she didn’t really remember her execution [attempt], but she did remember at least being in the hospital and being intubated and that’s where she stands,” Dr Zivot said.
Despite those signs of progress, he said the possibility of brain damage remained a concern.
“When she was first admitted, it was unclear why she was so deeply unresponsive that she required to be intubated. Was it the pentobarbital itself? Was it low oxygen to the brain? Was it some combination of the two? It’s still a little bit unclear, honestly,” he said.
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According to Dr Zivot, both intravenous lines inserted by the execution team appear to have failed.
“One thing that I did learn is that Christa Pike actually has a blood clot in one of her arms… a blood clot would be one reason that perhaps is why the IV would not function.
“She’s actually being treated for a blood clot now, and her arms are both quite severely injured and that will be a long recovery for certain,” he said.
Questions have also been raised about whether the pentobarbital had degraded and was less potent than expected. Dr Zivot said that had not been established.
“The way that pentobarbital is prepared and handled by the state is secret, so I know that there is a desire to try to preserve these sorts of necessary elements that were involved in this attempted execution,” he said.
Dr Zivot said Pike’s future remained uncertain if she continued to recover.
“It’s very tricky and nuanced. From the medical perspective, our duty is to take our patients and try to improve their health to the best that we can, guided by them, so a patient with autonomy can accept or reject any medical care. Where Christa Pike falls upon this, I don’t know.
“We know that there’s an ethical violation of directing care to a person for the purpose of making them fit for punishment and the difference is what you intend and what you foresee. So the intention here, of course, is to help Christa recover her medical state as much as possible,” he added.
Christa Pike was 18 in January 1995 when she and her boyfriend killed Colleen Slemmer
Pike’s case has attracted international scrutiny. A group of United Nations human rights experts recently issued a statement urging that her death sentence be commuted.
Pike was 18 in January 1995 when she, her 17-year-old boyfriend and a third companion lured 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow student at the Knoxville Job Corps vocational centre, into a wooded area. There, they tortured and killed her.
The brutal killing generated intense media coverage at the time.
Evidence presented at trial indicated that Pike regarded Ms Slemmer as a rival for the attention of her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp.
Pike and Shipp confessed to the killing and were convicted of first-degree murder the following year.
Pike received a death sentence, while Shipp, who was 17 when the killing occurred, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
Their co-defendant, Shadolla Peterson, was 18 at the time and served as a lookout for the pair. She testified for the prosecution and was sentenced to probation.
