The Tennessee woman who survived an execution attempt last week is conscious, talking and receiving medical care, a development her lawyers called “unprecedented.”
In a statement released Tuesday, Christa Pike’s lawyers said she remained handcuffed and shackled despite significant injuries to her arms after two injections of pentobarbital failed to kill her.
The statement described his prognosis as uncertain.
“At a minimum, we expect a long recovery,” attorneys Randy Spivey and Kelly Gleason said. “We are incredibly grateful to the first responders and medical team at the hospital who treated Christa like a human and provided her with exceptional care. We also want to thank the thousands of people from around the world who sent messages offering prayers and support for Christa.”
The release said the attorneys will speak at a news conference Wednesday.
Prison officials administered the injections Wednesday in an effort to execute Pike for the 1995 murder of classmate Colleen Slemmer. Pike was 18 at the time of the murder.
After injections failed to kill her, Pike was hospitalized and placed on a ventilator while staff members worked to remove the pentobarbital from her system, her lawyers said.
Pike, 50, would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in 200 years.
Gov. Bill Lee last week ordered an independent review of the failed execution and suspended all executions for the rest of the year. Pike’s lawyers said they believe problems with the IV lines may have caused the pentobarbital to flow into his body instead of into his bloodstream.
On Saturday, Lee announced the resignation of Frank Strada, the state’s top prisons official.
In a statement, Strada said he believed the state Department of Corrections carried out its responsibilities “in accordance with established protocol.” But withdrawing, he added, was in “the best interest of Tennesseans as the independent review moves forward.”
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