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Major question arises as 'leaked photo' of Christa Pike 'shows purple arm' after botched execution
After Christa Pike survived two doses of the lethal injection, questions about what happens to a prisoner if they are left severely injured following an execution attempt have been raised.
Just days after two lethal injections failed to kill Christa Pike, a horrifying picture of the injuries she suffered during the brutal botched attempts to take her life has allegedly been leaked.
The image appears to support her lawyers' claims that the inmate, who was set to be the first woman killed by the state in Texas in over 200 years after spending 30 years on death row, arrived at the hospital with “swollen, burned, and blistered” arms.
While the majority of news outlets across the world have chosen not to publish the picture for legal reasons, Radar.com claims it is legitimate and allegedly came from a source inside the Tennessee Department of Correction.
How did she survive the execution attempt?
Killer Pike, 50, remains in critical condition in the hospital after surviving a double dose of lethal injection in Tennessee on Wednesday, September 30.
Over the weekend, her attorney revealed that she is currently under guard and “may not fully recover” after the Tennessee Department of Corrections confirmed she was “transported to an off-site medical facility”.
According to reports, even after two syringes of potent poison pentobarbital were administered, she had “not lost consciousness and still has a heartbeat,” and was “audibly snoring”.
Witnesses of the failed execution attempts reported watching medical staff struggle to administer the injection and even claimed that Pike tried to help guide them towards a vein to insert the IV.
Allegedly, one needle was bent when it was pulled from her arm after the first failed attempt. The murderer, who had been imprisoned since killing fellow Job Corps student Colleen Slemmer in 1995, was reportedly left crying and whispering throughout the process.
What will happen to Christa Pike now?
Despite the attempts to end her life, authorities have now been tasked with keeping her alive due to a flaw in the death penalty protocol.
The strict set of guidelines advises the state to administer a second injection if the first dose doesn’t result in death. However, the protocol doesn’t tell the state what to do if a second dose doesn’t work.
Another unprecedented decision that is currently being deliberated by authorities and attorneys is what to do with Pike now that she is severely injured and possibly permanently disabled following the botched attempts to end her life, after her lawyer warned she may never fully recover.
Her lawyer Stephen Ferrell said that Pike remains unconscious and on a ventilator, while doctors work to determine the extent of the damage she may have suffered. At the time of writing, she has not regained consciousness or been able to speak.