Tennessee inmate Christa Pike conscious and speaking after failed lethal injection

Christa Pike, a 50-year-old death row inmate, has regained consciousness and is speaking after surviving two doses of lethal injection drugs during a botched execution attempt in Tennessee.

Attorneys for Christa Pike announced Tuesday that she is off a ventilator and receiving critical care at a Nashville hospital. According to a statement reported by France 24 and Deutsche Welle, Pike remains handcuffed and shackled to her bed despite what her legal team described as medically unprecedented recovery from severe injuries to her arms.

The execution attempt took place on September 30 at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution. Al Jazeera reported that witnesses described Pike kicking off a sheet, appearing to snore, and expressing that she was in pain as the doses of pentobarbital were administered. Her lawyers told Fox News that the state proceeded with the protocol despite prior warnings regarding issues with Pike’s veins.

While Dr. Joel Zivot told Deutsche Welle that Pike's ability to speak bodes well, her legal team cautioned that her prognosis is unclear and will require a long recovery. The Death Penalty Information Center stated that Pike is the first prisoner in the United States known to have survived after being injected with lethal doses of execution drugs.

In response to the failed procedure, Pike's attorneys are seeking a court order to preserve evidence from the execution, including drug lot numbers and medical records. They are also renewing a request for Governor Bill Lee to commute her sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole, following the recent resignation of the Tennessee prison chief.

Background

Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1995 torture and murder of 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer. She was 18 years old at the time of the crime, which involved a prolonged attack and the collection of a skull fragment as a trophy.