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Christa Pike has survived something that was never supposed to be survivable.
Nearly a week after Tennessee’s botched attempt to execute her by lethal injection, the 50-year-old death row inmate is conscious and speaking from her hospital bed, according to her attorneys.
Pike’s legal team announced the surprising update Tuesday, saying she is “conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care” (via TMZ).
That’s obviously a significant improvement from where things stood just days ago.
Pike was unconscious and on a ventilator following the September 30 execution attempt at Tennessee’s Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.
She had been administered two lethal doses of pentobarbital, but the execution was ultimately halted after she failed to lose consciousness.
She was transported to a hospital, where doctors have been treating the effects of the failed execution.
“Her recovery is medically unprecedented,” Pike’s attorneys said in a statement. “Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery.”
Her lawyers also said Pike continues to deal with severe injuries to both arms and remains handcuffed and shackled to her hospital bed.
Pike’s attorneys have alleged that problems with the IV lines caused the lethal drug to enter surrounding tissue rather than properly reaching her bloodstream. They have also accused Tennessee officials of failing to recognize the problem during the execution.
According to a court filing, Pike experienced significant distress during the procedure, while witnesses reported hearing her breathing and snoring long after the lethal drugs had been administered.
The situation has raised serious questions about Tennessee’s execution procedures.
Gov. Bill Lee has ordered an independent review of what happened and halted the state’s remaining scheduled executions for the year. Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada is also set to resign following the botched execution.
Pike’s attorneys are now asking Lee to commute her death sentence to life in prison without parole.
“The least that could happen now is that we at least take death off the table and start looking for what the future could be for her,” attorney Stephen Ferrell previously said.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. She was 18 at the time of the crime.
For now, however, the focus is on Pike’s condition and what comes next.
Her attorneys say her prognosis remains uncertain. But after surviving an execution that was intended to end her life, Pike is awake, speaking and fighting to recover.
And that’s a development few could have anticipated just one week ago.
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