Christa Pike discharged from hospital after surviving execution attempt, attorney says
Christa Pike, who survived Tennessee's attempt to execute her by lethal injection, has been moved back to prison, according to a statement released by her attorneys.
Pike, 50, moved back to Tennessee prison
The Associated Press
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Christa Pike, who survived Tennessee's attempt to execute her by lethal injection, has been moved back to prison, according to a statement released by her attorneys.
Pike, 50, was discharged from the hospital and is back at the Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, the women's prison where she was housed for 30 years, her attorneys said in a statement.
"She is grateful to the first responders and her medical team for their care in these extraordinary circumstances. She is continuing to receive medical care at the prison, and we will continue to track her recovery," her attorneys said in a statement released Saturday.
Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital as the state attempted to execute her by lethal injection on Sept. 30 for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer. Pike had been in a hospital since the failed execution.
On Wednesday, a Tennessee judge ordered the state to preserve evidence related to the botched execution, including needles, drug lot numbers and gurney restraints.
Lawyers asking governor to commute sentence
Following the court hearing on Wednesday, her lawyers Luke Ihnen and Randy Spivey said she was awake and speaking after being unconscious and on a ventilator following the failed execution attempt. Her attorneys said her prognosis remains unclear and that she faces a long recovery.
WATCH | Pike's lawyers give update following hearing:
Lawyers for Christa Pike comment on next steps after 'unprecedented botched execution'
October 7|
Duration
4:20
Lawyers for convicted murderer Christa Pike say they are asking the state of Tennessee to preserve evidence as they seek to understand what unfolded in a failed attempt to execute her.Spivey also said Pike was "very aware" that the state tried to execute her and failed, and that she is both "angry and confused."
Ihnen and Spivey said Wednesday's hearing was the first of many of their attempts to gain answers and transparency from the state of Tennessee about what went wrong on Sept. 30 when Pike survived her lethal injection — as well as to have Pike's constitutional rights enforced.
Pike's attorneys said they were continuing to urge Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to commute her death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Lee halted further executions statewide following Pike's hospitalization and ordered a "comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred."
The Death Penalty Information Center says Pike is the first person to survive after receiving lethal injection drugs during an execution.
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