Pike case: next hearing set for Oct. 23 as state seeks deadline to amend complaint
After Tennessee's failed execution attempt, the state is pushing to move the case along. The corrections department won't say whether it may seek a new execution date.
Symbolic image · Photo: Thomas R Machnitzki (thomasmachnitzki.com) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 (cropped and resized)
The next court date in the case over Tennessee's failed execution of Christa Pike is set for Oct. 23 at 9:30 a.m., WZTV/Fox 17 reported on Tuesday. The state asked the judge to set a deadline for Pike's attorneys to amend their complaint and to rule on written filings without oral arguments. The hearing notice gives no reasons, and no deadline has been set yet.
The judge earlier ordered Pike's attorneys to provide a doctor's assessment of whether her restraints interfered with her medical care. An Oct. 10 order gives both sides 45 days to arrange inspection and collection of remaining physical evidence from the execution attempt. Asked about Pike's care, its review of the execution and whether the state could seek another date, the Tennessee Department of Correction said: "We don't have any information to share today."
Pike was hospitalized after the halted execution attempt on Sept. 30 and returned to prison on Saturday, her attorneys said. Gov. Bill Lee has called off the last execution scheduled for this year pending an independent review led by former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton. Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of Colleen Slemmer.