NASHVILLE: Christa Pike, a Tennessee death row inmate who survived a failed lethal injection last week, has regained consciousness and is now speaking, according to her lawyers.
Pike, 50, remains hospitalized and continues to receive critical medical treatment after the execution attempt at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on September 30. Her attorneys said her long-term prognosis remains uncertain and that she is expected to face a lengthy recovery.
Pike received two doses of pentobarbital during the attempted execution. However, the procedure was halted after officials failed to complete it successfully. She was later taken to hospital for emergency treatment.
Her lawyers said the failed procedure caused severe injuries to both arms during attempts to establish intravenous access. They said her arms became swollen, burned and blistered after the drug apparently entered surrounding tissue rather than her bloodstream.
Pike had initially remained unconscious and required a ventilator. Her attorneys now describe her recovery as medically unprecedented and said she remains shackled to her hospital bed despite her injuries.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, committed when Pike was 18.
Her lawyers are seeking a court order to preserve evidence related to the failed execution. They have also asked Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute her death sentence to life imprisonment without parole.
The incident has prompted Tennessee authorities to suspend further executions for the remainder of the year while a review is conducted.
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