The mother of Colleen Slemmer, the victim of Christa Pike, expressed her expectation that the death row inmate will survive and is beginning to lose hope that she will ever be executed.
Pike, who is 50, was slated to be the first woman executed in Tennessee in over two centuries for the murder of Slemmer in 1995. However, after two botched lethal injections, it turns out she is now awake and speaking, as disclosed by her lawyers on Tuesday.
May Martinez, Slemmer’s mother, shared with WBIR that she had a feeling all along that Pike wouldn’t face execution and voiced concerns that if another attempt was made, Pike could possibly survive again.
When asked about her hopes regarding future outcomes, Martinez stated, “It doesn’t matter what I think; they’re going to do what they’re going to do.”
Pike is thought to be the first individual in the U.S. to have survived a lethal injection.
Her death sentence stemmed from the brutal killing of her 19-year-old classmate Slemmer in January 1995, motivated by jealousy since Pike suspected Slemmer wanted to take her boyfriend.
Last Wednesday, Pike was in critical condition and transferred from Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville to a hospital. Her legal team issued a statement on Tuesday claiming, “Against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care.”
Despite the extensive damage she experienced in her arms, they noted that she remains handcuffed and shackled to the bed. The nature of her recovery is described as medically unprecedented, though her prognosis remains uncertain, with expectations for a lengthy recovery.
Pike received two doses of pentobarbital through at least seven needles, one of which reportedly came out of her arm at an awkward angle, according to her legal representatives.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has suspended all further executions for the year and recently announced the resignation of the state’s prison chief, Frank Strada, due to the botched execution. Additionally, Governor Lee ordered an independent investigation, directed by former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton, to dissect what went wrong.
A legal expert informed The Post that for the state to attempt to execute Pike again, she must be mentally competent enough to grasp the nature of her punishment.
Professor Deborah Denno from Fordham School of Law emphasized, “She can’t be executed if she is brain injured and doesn’t understand the proceedings,” referencing a Supreme Court ruling from 2019 that prohibits executing individuals who are not aware of the punishment they’re facing.
Pike’s attorneys have requested that Governor Lee commute her sentence, arguing that she has undergone punishment exceeding that of any other inmate in the history of the American death penalty. They filed a motion on Friday demanding that the Tennessee Department of Correction preserve any and all evidence related to Pike’s attempted execution.
