Christa Pike Is Awake And Speaking After A Failed Lethal Injection In Tennessee — What We Know

Death row inmate Christa Pike is conscious and speaking in hospital nearly a week after a failed execution in Tennessee, her lawyers said on Tuesday. Experts say nothing like this has happened before.

What Her Lawyers Say

Pike, 50, is still receiving critical medical care and is handcuffed in hospital, her attorneys said in a statement, according to BBC News. Sky News also reports that she is conscious and speaking.

Her legal team called her progress "medically unprecedented". Her prognosis is unclear, and they say that "at a minimum, we expect a long recovery". They also say she has suffered "severe damage" to her arms.

What Happened Last Week

Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Pike was 18 at the time. BBC News reports that she and her then-boyfriend beat, tortured and killed Slemmer, whom they met at a job training camp for troubled teens.

Last Wednesday, Tennessee tried to execute Pike by lethal injection. According to the BBC, she survived two failed injections. She was taken to hospital and stayed unconscious for days while medical staff cleared the injected chemical, pentobarbital, from her body.

Her lawyers had warned before the execution that her medical history and anatomy, including a blood-clotting condition and small veins, meant a risk of "unnecessary" pain and suffering.

Why Experts Call It Unprecedented

Deborah Denno, a criminologist at Fordham Law School, told the BBC she was "absolutely astonished" that Pike is conscious and speaking.

Denno said seven other prisoners have survived scheduled executions, but in those cases executioners could not get anything into the veins. She said Pike "is the only person for whom some kind of toxin has been injected". Pike is believed to be the only known person to survive a lethal injection.

Dr Joel Zivot, an anaesthesiologist advising Pike's defence team, told the BBC that most people who receive a lethal injection die from it. He said there is still a lot of uncertainty, including how much of the drug reached her system and what her recovery will look like. He would not say the big risks are behind her.

Zivot has suggested a possible explanation: the drug may have spread through the tissue under her skin rather than entering her bloodstream normally. Authorities have not offered any explanation of what went wrong.

What Happens Next

• Authorities have not said whether they will try to execute Pike again.
• Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has suspended all executions for the rest of the year.
• The state's head of prisons said over the weekend that he plans to resign.
• Pike's attorneys are due in court in Nashville on Wednesday and plan a news conference outside.

Sources:

• BBC News: US death row inmate Christa Pike awake and speaking after failed execution, lawyers say
• Sky News: Christa Pike 'conscious and speaking at hospital' after failed execution in US

Should a state be allowed to try again after an execution fails like this? Tell us what you think in the comments.