US death row inmate Christa Pike is conscious and speaking six days after surviving a failed execution in Tennessee, according to CNN.
Pike’s lawyers disclosed the development in a statement released on Tuesday, saying she remains in hospital receiving critical medical care after surviving two doses of pentobarbital during the botched lethal injection.
“Against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care,” her attorneys said.
They added that Pike had suffered severe damage to her arms and remained handcuffed and shackled to her hospital bed.
“Her recovery is medically unprecedented. Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery,” the lawyers said, according to CNN.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer and had been scheduled to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in 200 years.
Her execution on October 1 failed after executioners reportedly spent about an hour trying to establish intravenous access for the lethal drug.
According to Pike’s attorney, Randy Spivey, the execution team used at least seven needles while attempting to find a suitable vein.
Spivey said Pike cooperated with the execution team and even indicated where they could attempt to insert the intravenous lines.
Her lawyers had previously warned Tennessee authorities about her history of difficulties with vein access. They believe the problems with the IV lines caused the pentobarbital to flow into her body tissue rather than directly into her bloodstream.
Pike became unconscious and was placed on a ventilator after surviving the execution attempt before being taken to hospital for emergency treatment.
CNN reported that media witness Catherine Sweeney, a reporter with WPLN, described the execution as highly unusual.
“None of it was normal. I covered all the executions last year, and most of the ones this year. We haven’t seen anything like it. It went really poorly,” Sweeney said.
The Tennessee Department of Correction said the execution followed the state’s approved lethal injection protocol, which allows a second injection if an inmate remains alive after the first.
Following the failed execution, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee halted the state’s next scheduled execution and ordered an independent review of the incident.
Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada also announced his resignation, saying it was “in the best interest of Tennesseans” as the review of Pike’s failed execution gets underway.
The review is being led by former US Attorney Ed Stanton, who previously investigated a 2022 execution and found that Tennessee had failed to comply with its own lethal injection procedures.
Pike’s lawyers are also seeking a court order to preserve evidence from the execution attempt, including physical, written and electronic records.
They have called on Governor Lee to commute Pike’s death sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.