Lawyers share Christa Pike’s first words since waking — and make her case in court

Gideon Resnick (0:05)

Good morning, lawyers share the first words of Christa Pike since waking up from her botched execution as courtroom hearings begin.

Randy Spivey (0:12)

We don't know the toll all of this will take, but Christa is a survivor and we remain hopeful.

Gideon Resnick (0:19)

Why Maine Senator Susan Collins faces the toughest fight of her career and the renovators adapting their homes to accommodate Costco's purges? It's Thursday, October 8th, I'm Gideon Resnick, this is Apple News Today.

As recently as Monday night, Christa Pike's lawyers assumed their client was brain dead. A day later, the extraordinary news emerged that she had not only survived, but was conscious. And yesterday, her attorney, Randy Spivey, offered another update.

Randy Spivey (0:53)

Our understanding was the first thing she said was, where am I and who are you? There's still a lot of cognitive confusion.

Gideon Resnick (1:01)

And he said she was aware that the state had tried to execute her.

Randy Spivey (1:05)

She has wanted to know what's happened, and she's asked about several people. She's asked about her team, she's asked about the victim's family. Like she is, I think she is angry and confused about everything right now.

Gideon Resnick (1:19)

Pike's lawyers say they want the governor to commute her sentence of torture and murder to life in prison. While she appears to be aware of her surroundings, her lawyer said that she had sustained serious injuries.

Randy Spivey (1:31)

She has a blood clot in one of her arms. She has pneumonia.

She is not able to swallow yet, so she has not eaten. She cannot move either of her arms.

Both of her arms and hands are tremendously swollen, and we do not know what, if any, function she will regain in her arms.

Gideon Resnick (1:50)

As Pike's condition slowly becomes clearer, the first stage of what will likely be a drawn-out legal battle began in a Nashville courtroom, where a judge issued an instruction to the state of Tennessee.

Miles (2:01)

I want to ensure that you will take special care not to lose, misplace, accidentally delete any information that may be pertinent to this litigation.

Gideon Resnick (2:17)

Judge Miles also ordered the state to get back any information or materials that had already been thrown out. Jonathan Allen is a reporter with Reuters who told us what Pike's team was seeking.

Jonathan Allen (2:28)

Christa Pike's lawyers want the syringes, the drug bottles, the lot numbers, the gurneys, the IV lines, they want all that preserved by the Tennessee Department of Correction so that it's there as they continue to sort of litigate over what happens next.

Gideon Resnick (2:47)

This wasn't a hearing to assess what went wrong.

One doctor that advised Pike's team suggested the Penta-Barbitol drug never entered the bloodstream. But there's still a lot of questions to be litigated.

Jonathan Allen (2:58)

We don't know if there was a problem with the Penta-Barbitol itself. Was it old and expired? Was it contaminated in some way? And did that exacerbate whatever has happened to Christa Pike? So I think right now, there's still testing to be done, questions to be asked, litigation to be done over getting access to some of this evidence, just to find out what went wrong.

Gideon Resnick (3:21)

And it's still unclear what could happen next in Pike's case.

Tennessee's Governor Bill Lee has ordered an investigation into the execution attempt. He's called off the only remaining scheduled execution this year, and he announced the resignation of the Department of Correction Commissioner. Pike's attorney said yesterday that the state has not explicitly said it wouldn't attempt to execute her again. Though the assistant attorney general said this in court yesterday.

Randy Spivey (3:46)

As we stand here today, there's no showing that Ms. Pike is subject to execution again.

Gideon Resnick (3:51)

Allen said farther down the road is still a question.

Jonathan Allen (3:53)

In short, her lawyers don't know what will happen a month from now, six months from now, a year from now, whether or not Governor Lee or his successor will order a second, let's reschedule this execution date.

Gideon Resnick (4:09)

The case is also reverberating beyond Tennessee. Lawyers for a man on death row in Texas had used Pike's circumstances as an argument for pausing their client's execution scheduled for last night. But a court denied their request.

Tonight in Maine, incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins and her Democratic opponent Troy Jackson will face off in round two of their campaign debates. And if it's anything like Tuesday night, it might very well get testy.

Randy Spivey (4:44)

I don't owe Donald Trump and the billionaires anything.

Susan Collins (4:47)

I owe the people of the state everything.