Christa Pike Returns to Prison After 10 Days in Hospital Following 2 Failed Lethal Injections
Updated
Updated · BBC.com · Oct 10
Christa Pike Returns to Prison After 10 Days in Hospital Following 2 Failed Lethal Injections
3 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Oct 10
Summary
Christa Pike, 50, was discharged from hospital and sent back to prison 10 days after surviving Tennessee’s failed Sept. 30 execution attempt; her lawyers said she is still receiving medical care there.
Two doses of pentobarbital left Pike in critical condition and unconscious for days, but she regained consciousness this week and began speaking, surprising her lawyers, medical staff and execution experts.
Her legal team had feared she was brain dead and said earlier she was shackled to a hospital bed with pneumonia, arm swelling and trouble swallowing, facing what they called a long recovery.
At a Wednesday hearing, Tennessee said it did not know whether it would try to execute Pike again, while a judge ordered the state to preserve evidence from the failed injections for possible litigation.
Pike, convicted of the 1995 torture-killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, is believed to be the only person known to have survived a lethal-injection execution attempt.