Christa Pike, the Tennessee woman whose lethal injection was halted last week after a botched execution attempt, has regained consciousness and is now able to speak, her attorneys confirmed Tuesday.
Pike, 50, had been placed on a ventilator after the state administered two doses of pentobarbital that failed to kill her. “Her recovery is medically unprecedented. Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery,” her attorneys said in a statement. They also thanked “the first responders and the medical team at the hospital who treated Christa like a human,” along with the “thousands from all over the world who sent messages offering prayers and support.”
The execution, carried out in Davidson County, went wrong from the start. According to Pike’s attorneys, medical staff spent roughly an hour trying to establish an IV line, using at least seven needles in the process. “One of which appeared to be bent when it was pulled from her arm,” attorney Randy Spivey said last week. “The state continues its efforts despite the very complications that we had warned about in court months earlier.”
Spivey said he began pressing officials to intervene medically after Pike was still breathing following the injections. “I did not get any information or confirmation that an ambulance was on its way until 8:50,” he said. “I had no idea when and if medical professionals began to assist Christa.”
An emergency motion filed in Davidson County Chancery Court last week described Pike as crying, whimpering, and breathing loudly during the procedure, with both of her arms left swollen, burned, and blistered.
Governor orders review, delays next execution
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has ordered an independent review of the execution and postponed the state’s only other scheduled execution for this year — the second such delay of his seven years in office.
Pike’s attorneys said Tuesday they intend to keep pressing Lee to commute her death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Pike was sentenced to death for her role in the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. At 18, she became the youngest woman in the United States to receive a death sentence at the time.
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