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Christa Pike has made a “profound” physical recovery after surviving an attempted execution in Tennessee last week, her lawyers said in a statement on Thursday, according to Reuters.
Pike, 50, was taken to hospital in critical condition after two injections of pentobarbital on September 30. Her lawyers said she is now eating, can walk with assistance and has regained some movement in her arms, which were badly injured during the attempt.
“Physicians are encouraged by her physical recovery,” the legal team said. They added that Pike was also dealing with severe psychological trauma, including the fear and uncertainty of believing she was about to die.
Her lawyers said they did not yet know the full emotional and psychological impact of the incident or how long her recovery might take. Despite struggling to process what happened, Pike continued to express concern for others, particularly the family of Colleen Slemmer, her victim, they said.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of Slemmer, whom she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, met at a job training camp for low-income young people. Pike was 18 and Shipp was 17 when they beat, tortured and killed the 19-year-old. Shipp avoided the death penalty because he was not legally an adult at the time and remains in prison.
Slemmer’s mother, who had supported Pike’s execution, described the failed attempt as a “mess”. Pike is believed to be the only person to have survived an attempted execution by lethal injection.
A judge has ordered officials to preserve evidence connected to the attempt, potentially laying the groundwork for a future lawsuit against the state. On Wednesday, Judge I’Ashea Myles directed officials to retain everything in the execution room, including IV lines and syringes, as well as related waste such as packaging, inserts and labels.
Myles also sought records of Pike’s psychological condition before, during and after the attempt, and urged the state to take “special care” to prevent relevant information from being lost or deleted.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has paused executions for the rest of the year and said he wants answers about what went wrong. Pike’s lawyers have asked him to reduce her sentence to life in prison without parole, while supporters of capital punishment have suggested using another method to execute her.
