Christa Pike in critical condition 'receiving life-saving medical care' after botched execution, attorneys say – ABC News – Breaking News, Latest News and Videos

Christa Pike in critical condition ‘receiving life-saving medical care’ after botched execution, attorneys say  ABC News – Breaking News, Latest News and Videos

Christa Pike, 50, was sentenced to death after being convicted of the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. She appeared to still be breathing when witnesses were escorted out. Christa Pike, the only woman on Tennessee's death row, is in critical condition at a hospital and receiving "life-saving care" after a botched execution attempt Wednesday night, her attorneys told reporters at an online press conference on Thursday. "Christa is alive right now. We don't have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment, but we do know that she is alive right now and receiving life-saving medical care," said Randy Spivey, an attorney with the Tennessee Office of the Post-Conviction Defender.

The legal team for Pike — the first woman the state planned to execute in 200 years — called on Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to commute her death sentence. "The state of Tennessee has shown us again that they are not capable of carrying out an execution consistent with basic human dignity," Spivey said. "Last night was not just inefficient. It was cruel, and it was torturous." "Ms. Pike was not just cooperative, but was trying to help instruct the people placing the IV lines of where she could they could find them," Spivey said. "She over and over again said, 'Please try