Attorneys ask for evidence to be preserved following Christa Pike’s attempted execution

Dipti Vaidya/USA Today Network/Imagn Images/Reuters

Attorneys for Christa Pike, who survived Tennessee’s attempt to put her to death via lethal injection last week, will be in court Wednesday as they seek to preserve relevant evidence in her twice-botched execution.

Pike has been hospitalized for nearly a week after being injected with two ostensibly fatal doses of pentobarbital, her attorneys said. On Tuesday, her attorneys said, she was finally conscious and speaking – though she continues to receive critical medical care and suffered “severe damage” to her arms.

“Her recovery is medically unprecedented,” the attorneys said in a statement Tuesday evening. “Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery.”

Pike’s lawyers filed the emergency motion Friday to ensure the preservation of evidence, alleging the Tennessee Department of Correction inflicted “a cruel and unusual punishment” on Pike “through its deliberate indifference to her basic medical needs and reckless disregard of basic medical practices and their own lethal injection protocol.”

A hearing on that motion is scheduled for noon ET in Davidson County Chancery Court in Nashville.

Those administering the lethal injection attempted to gain IV access to Pike using “at least seven needles,” the emergency motion reads. “One needle was bent in a 90-degree angle when it was removed.”

The attorneys first alerted the state about its duty to preserve evidence at 1:09 a.m. ET on Thursday, hours after Pike’s botched execution, the emergency motion points out. Pike’s legal team is now looking to preserve relevant physical, written and electronic evidence.

When Pike arrived at the Nashville-area hospital, her attorneys said in the motion, her arms were “swollen, burned, and blistered.” Pentobarbital “burns upon contact, including skin, tissue, and veins,” they said.

Pike was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for the brutal 1995 killing of Colleen Slemmer, a fellow student at a job training facility.

The state Attorney General’s Office hasn’t indicated whether it will seek to put her to death again, Stephen Ferrell, one of Pike’s attorneys, told CNN on Sunday. Pike’s lawyers have called on Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to commute her sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

After Pike’s failed execution, Lee suspended executions for the rest of the year, announcing Thursday a third party will do “a thorough and comprehensive” review of her case. Lee on Saturday also announced Correction Commissioner Frank Strada would step down later this month following backlash over Pike’s failed execution.

Republican US Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who is running to replace Lee as governor in January, called to bring back the electric chair and “deliver justice for these victims swiftly.”

“The state of Tennessee has got to start telling its people exactly what it is doing, so that in the democratic process, the people of Tennessee can decide if that’s what they want to be done in their name,” Ferrell said Sunday. “This torturous execution leaves so many questions that the state of Tennessee will refuse to answer.”

CNN’s Eduardo Cuevas, Eric Levenson and Ryan Young contributed to this report.

Dipti Vaidya/今日美国网络/Imagn Images/路透社

上周，田纳西州试图通过注射死刑处决克丽斯塔·派克，但她侥幸活了下来。本周三，她的律师将出庭，试图保存有关她两次死刑执行失败的相关证据。

派克的律师称，她被注射了两剂足以致命的戊巴比妥钠后，已住院近一周。周二，她的律师表示，她终于恢复了意识并能说话——尽管她仍在接受关键的医疗护理，并且双臂遭受了“严重损伤”。

律师们周二晚间在一份声明中表示：“她的康复在医学上是前所未有的。她的预后尚不明确，但至少我们预计她需要很长时间才能康复。”

派克的律师于周五提交了紧急动议，以确保证据的保存。动议中称，田纳西州惩教部门“故意漠视派克的基本医疗需求，鲁莽地无视基本的医疗实践和他们自己的注射死刑程序”，对派克施加了“残酷和不寻常的惩罚”。

该动议的听证会定于美国东部时间中午在纳什维尔的戴维森县衡平法院举行。

紧急动议中写道，执行死刑的人员试图用“至少七根针”为派克建立静脉通路。“其中一根针在拔出时已弯曲成90度角。”

紧急动议指出，律师们于美国东部时间周四凌晨1点09分首次提醒州政府其有义务保存证据，此时距离派克被执行死刑失败已过去数小时。派克的法律团队目前正在寻求保存相关的实物、书面和电子证据。

派克的律师在动议中称，当她抵达纳什维尔地区的医院时，她的双臂“肿胀、灼伤、起水泡”。他们表示，戊巴比妥“接触后会造成灼伤，包括皮肤、组织和静脉”。

派克因 1995 年残忍杀害同为职业培训机构学生的科琳·斯莱默而被判一级谋杀罪，并被判处死刑。

派克的律师之一斯蒂芬·费雷尔周日告诉CNN，州检察长办公室尚未表明是否会再次寻求判处她死刑。派克的律师已呼吁田纳西州州长比尔·李将她的死刑改判为终身监禁，不得假释。

在派克死刑执行失败后，李宣布暂停当年剩余时间的所有死刑执行，并于周四宣布将由第三方对她的案件进行“彻底而全面的”审查。李于周六还宣布，由于派克死刑执行失败引发的强烈反弹，惩教署署长弗兰克·斯特拉达将于本月晚些时候辞职。

美国共和党参议员玛莎·布莱克本（Marsha Blackburn）将于1月竞选接替李（Lee）担任州长，她呼吁恢复电椅，并“迅速为这些受害者伸张正义”。

费雷尔周日表示：“田纳西州必须开始向人民如实告知其所作所为，以便田纳西州人民能够通过民主程序决定，这是否是他们希望以他们的名义所做的事情。这种残忍的处决方式留下了太多田纳西州拒绝回答的问题。”

CNN的Eduardo Cuevas、Eric Levenson和Ryan Young对本报道亦有贡献。