Christa Pike has regained consciousness and is now speaking after two botched lethal injections left her critically injured, her attorneys confirmed in a statement Tuesday. She had previously been placed on a ventilator.
“Her recovery is medically unprecedented. Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery,” Pike’s attorneys said.
“We are incredibly grateful to the first responders and the medical team at the hospital who treated Christa like a human and have provided exceptional care to her,” they added. “We also want to thank thousands from all over the world who sent messages offering prayers and support for Christa.”
Pike, 50, survived two lethal doses of pentobarbital at a Nashville facility in Davidson County. Her attorneys say doctors spent roughly an hour trying to start an IV line, using at least seven needles.
“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 says he began demanding that medical professionals intervene after Pike was still breathing despite 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 states that Pike “could be heard crying, whimpering, and breathing loudly” during the execution attempt, and that both of her arms were “swollen, burned, and blistered.”
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has ordered an independent review of what happened and postponed the state’s only remaining scheduled execution for this year. It’s the second time in his seven years in office that he has delayed an execution.
Pike’s attorneys say they will keep pressing Lee to commute her sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Pike was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. At 18, she became the youngest woman on death row in the United States at the time.
