Christa Pike regained consciousness and began speaking nearly six days after Tennessee’s failed attempt to execute her. Her lawyer said her first questions were, “Where am I?” and “Who are you?”
Pike’s attorneys told a Nashville court that the 50-year-old inmate remains seriously ill and cannot move her arms or swallow. Her prognosis is unclear. They said her arms were burned and blistered during the execution attempt and that she remains restrained in her hospital bed.
Pike received two doses of pentobarbital on September 30. She was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of her classmate Colleen Slemmer. Attorney Randy Spivey said the defense had expected on Monday night that Pike would not survive and that life support would be removed the next day. Instead, she woke up and began talking on Tuesday.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee ordered an independent review and postponed the only other execution scheduled in the state this year. The head of the prison system resigned after the failed procedure.