First responders reached Christa Pike over thirty minutes late at Riverbend Prison in Nashville on September 30 after prison officials struggled to confirm security protocols following her survived lethal injection attempt.
Emergency medical assistance for death row inmate Christa Pike was delayed on the night of September 30, following a botched execution attempt at Riverbend Prison in Nashville. Newly released 911 dispatch recordings and transcripts reveal that first responders and prison officials spent minutes trying to determine whether the call for help from inside the execution chamber was authentic.
The first emergency call reached the Metro Nashville Emergency Communications Center at 8:40 p.m. CT. A prison official told dispatchers that the state had administered 10 grams of pentobarbital approximately an hour earlier and that the inmate was not yet deceased, according to a transcript released by the DEC.
Security Confusion Delays Prison Gate Entry
When the initial call came in, dispatchers asked the prison official for a required security verification code, which the caller could not provide. Around 9:00 p.m. Central Control personnel initially stated that no one from their facility had placed such a call.
At 9:08 p.m.
My client, Christa Gail Pike, is undergoing a state execution. She has completed the stages of the protocol and last we knew from the attorney who is present, she is still alive and breathing and needs immediate life-saving care.
Kelly Gleason, defense attorney, via CBC
Central Control confirmed the legitimacy of the emergency shortly afterward. Fire trucks and an ambulance, which had arrived outside the prison gates earlier, entered the property at approximately 9:11 p.m.
Hospitalization Follows Failed Execution
Pike survived two doses of the lethal drug pentobarbital during the September 30 execution attempt. State protocol requires a second dose if the first does not cause death, though the guidelines do not specify procedures for an inmate surviving both injections.
Medical personnel transported Pike to a hospital, where she spent several days on a ventilator. Attorneys initially stated that medical teams believed she was brain dead and intended to remove life support, but Pike regained consciousness and began speaking, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
On Saturday, October 10, her legal team announced that Pike had been discharged from the hospital and transferred back to the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, where she has been housed for three decades. Her attorneys noted that she continues to receive medical care and deals with cognitive issues and burned arms resulting from the execution procedure. Her defense attorneys described her physical recovery as remarkable while noting that she is dealing with profound psychological trauma, terror, and uncertainty.
Judge Mandates Evidence Preservation as Governor Halts Executions
Davidson County Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles issued an order on October 7 requiring the state to preserve all evidence related to the execution, including drugs, syringes, IV lines, medical equipment, photographs, and audio recordings. Attorneys for the state argued the order was unnecessary because the Department of Correction had already gathered the materials, but the judge mandated that any missing documentation or items be recovered.
Governor Bill Lee postponed all scheduled executions in the state through the rest of the year, impacting inmates such as Gary Wayne Sutton whose execution was slated for December 3, and ordered an independent, third-party review led by former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton to examine whether execution protocols were followed.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville, Tennessee, when Pike was 18 years old. As legal teams prepare for future court proceedings regarding her competency and potential double jeopardy claims, what will Governor Lee’s office do regarding clemency and the future of capital punishment enforcement in Tennessee?
