‘Absolutely unprecedented’: Could Tennessee try to execute Christa Pike again?

What This Story Is About

• Christa Pike survived a lethal injection attempt and was taken from Riverbend Maximum Security Institution to a hospital, where her attorney says the case has entered legally unprecedented territory.

Why It Matters

• Attorney David Raybin says the state faces serious legal barriers to executing Pike again, including a possible federal civil rights claim that she was already subjected to cruel and unusual punishment.

What Happens Next

• Raybin expects Pike to be found competent to be executed, but says her attorneys will then file a federal civil rights action, leaving the final decision to the courts rather than the governor’s office.

For Context

• Pike was originally sentenced to electrocution in 1996, and after Tennessee adopted lethal injection she was given the option to choose between the two methods, which Raybin says now legally limits her case to lethal injection only.

Catch Up

• Pike’s execution was halted after the state ran out of lethal injection medication during a second attempt, and she is now receiving medical care in a hospital under a stay of execution that runs through the end of the year.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - The moment Christa Pike was taken from Riverbend Maximum Security Institution by ambulance, attorneys say her case entered new legal territory.

“Her body granted her a functional stay of execution. That remains to be seen, whether that’s permanent or not. But I can assure you from a legal standpoint, this is absolutely unprecedented,” criminal defense attorney David Raybin said.

Pike has movement with medical assistance in her hospital room and is talking, according to her attorneys. Her attorneys say she has thought of the victim’s family.

Raybin said the things that have been released about her condition suggest she has been severely injured. He said both of her arms are potentially paralyzed and she has burns on one or both arms.

“This is not something where they just put the plug in the electric chair and it doesn’t work. That’s not what we have here. This person has been demonstrably injured in many ways,” Raybin said.

Competency and the execution process

State law requires a person being executed to be competent and to understand their crime and sentence. Raybin said if Pike remembers trying to be executed, she probably meets that threshold.

“While she may have some species of mental capacity... while she may be constitutionally fit to be executed, I think a court could very easily rule that the government is prohibited from doing this because they acted with reckless disregard in trying to execute her to begin with,” Raybin said.

Raybin said Pike’s attorneys can seek to block her execution through a federal civil rights filing rather than through the governor’s office, arguing a form of double jeopardy under the Eighth Amendment.

“Her lawyers will file a federal civil rights action to prevent this, based on the fact that she was subjected to cruel and unusual punishment,” Raybin said.

Raybin said he is not aware of anyone else who has survived an execution attempt the way Pike has. He pointed to a 1947 case in which the execution of a 16-year-old was unsuccessful after executioners were found to be drunk. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a split decision that officials could try again. Raybin said the facts of that case differ significantly from Pike’s, and the outcome could be different today.

Execution protocol

Raybin said he reviewed the state’s lethal injection protocol and found it does not account for physiological differences between individuals.

“There is no indication that the doctor who did this considered any of the physiological situation with her. Her body is different than other people’s. This is not a one-size-fits-all protocol, which is exactly what this is,” Raybin said.

Pike’s attorneys warned the court before the execution attempt that it would not be carried out correctly, and the court allowed it to proceed. Raybin believes the lack of individualized consideration contributed to the outcome.

“They had one job, and they didn’t do it correctly, tried again, then they had no protocol when they run out of the medicine a second time,” Raybin said.

Method of execution in question

Raybin said Pike’s case is limited to lethal injection and cannot result in a different method of execution, such as electrocution or firing squad.

“As far as she is concerned, lethal injection is the only method of execution that’s on the table for her. Her case cannot result in any other form of execution for her other than lethal injection, when and if a court would permit it,” Raybin said.

Pike was originally sentenced to electrocution in 1996. The state later changed its protocol to lethal injection and gave Pike the option to choose between the two methods. Raybin said that statutory change gave her the right to be executed only by lethal injection, and the law does not include a provision reverting to electrocution if lethal injection cannot be carried out.

“They cannot say, okay, now we’ll give you the firing squad or now we’ll do the electrocution. That is absolutely prohibited for a whole separate statutory reason because her sentence was death by lethal injection. They cannot now constitutionally change the method of execution unless she would consent,” Raybin said.

Raybin said he believes lethal injection will not be an option in Tennessee for at least the next year unless the state changes its protocol and uses more experienced personnel.

What happens next

Tennessee’s governor has issued a stay of execution through the end of the year. The governor is leaving office at the end of the year, and candidates seeking the office are divided on the issue.

Raybin said the decision will ultimately rest with the courts, since the incoming governor has indicated the state can try again.

“That leaves the only avenue to be the courts,” Raybin said.

Raybin said the courts have already stepped in to require preservation of evidence in the case, and state legislators have raised questions about revisiting the state’s execution process.

Raybin said he expects the governor to allow the case to proceed and that Pike will likely be found competent to be executed, but that her attorneys will then file a federal civil rights action arguing she was subjected to cruel and unusual punishment.

Pike continues to receive medical care in the hospital. Her fate has not been decided while Tennessee works to determine what went wrong.