Christa Pike could still face execution after surviving two failed attempts, provided she recovers and is able to understand the punishment imposed on her, legal experts said.
The 50-year-old convicted murderer was scheduled to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years on Wednesday. However, she survived the lethal-injection attempt and remains unconscious in critical condition while receiving lifesaving treatment at a hospital.
“She can’t be executed if she is brain injured and doesn’t understand the proceedings,” Deborah Denno, a professor at Fordham School of Law, told The Post.
Denno cited a 2019 U.S. Supreme Court case involving a person with dementia, saying the court recognized that someone cannot be executed if they are unaware of the punishment they are about to receive.
If Pike survives and is later deemed mentally competent, however, Denno said she could have a “strong argument” under double-jeopardy protections, which generally prevent a person from being punished twice for the same crime.
That argument could support a recommendation that Pike serve life in prison instead of being executed for the brutal 1995 murder of her 19-year-old classmate, Colleen Slemmer, who was killed in an apparent jealous rage, Denno said.
Pike’s attorneys have asked Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to commute her death sentence. Lee halted state executions and ordered an independent review following this week’s failed execution.
Michael Meltsner, an emeritus professor at Northeastern University School of Law, said he was skeptical that Lee would grant the request because of the nature of the crime and the governor’s apparent responsiveness to Slemmer’s family.
“For instance, the governor could commute her sentence to 30 years in jail, but that’s unlikely to happen here,” Meltsner said.
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Here’s the latest on the botched execution of Tennessee murderer Christa Pike:
Before the failed execution, Pike had told the courts she had a “history of difficulty with blood draws and needle insertion,” according to a motion filed by her lawyers.
Because of her concerns about Tennessee’s lethal-injection protocol, she proposed hanging as an alternative execution method, but the request was denied.
Tennessee law identifies lethal injection as the primary method of capital punishment. Prisoners whose crimes were committed before Jan. 1, 1999, may instead choose the electric chair.
Pike declined the electric chair as an alternative, citing her Buddhist beliefs.
If she is scheduled for execution again, Denno said Pike’s lawyers could renew their request for a different method.
“She could be executed using a different method of execution, and she has a very good argument that lethal injection, in her case and with her particular medical situation, simply doesn’t work,” Denno said.
“However, the state could reject all her arguments and just set a new execution date using lethal injection again.”