Christa Pike, a death row killer who survived a botched execution attempt in Tennessee, remains in intensive care, with a medical expert advising her legal team warning that "a lot of bad things can happen" as she recovers.
Pike was given two doses of pentobarbital during the failed execution attempt on Wednesday, September 30. She was later rushed to hospital with serious injuries, including severe damage to her arms, which her lawyers described as "medically unprecedented."
Condition and Recovery
Dr Joel Zivot, an anaesthesiologist advising her team, said Pike has recovered enough to be taken off a ventilator and is now able to speak, but warned she is not yet free from serious risk.
"She's still in the ICU," he told the BBC. "She has recovered to a certain degree that she's able to be off a ventilator and able to speak, but in no way would I announce her free of further serious risk. There's still a lot of bad things that can happen here, even when everyone is doing their job well."
Dr Zivot said it could be weeks or months before anyone knows exactly what Pike's recovery might look like. He told the BBC she was able to communicate in a "basic way" after being taken off the ventilator. She was able to recall her name but made an incorrect guess at the date, believing the month was still September.
"She has some memories of being in the hospital but no memory, I believe, of the execution attempt," Dr Zivot added.
Legal and Medical Implications
Her lawyers have said Pike's "prognosis remains unclear" and that they expect her to face a long recovery. They said in a statement: "Against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care. Despite the severe damage she endured to her arms, she is still handcuffed and shackled to the bed. Her recovery is medically unprecedented. Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery."
It is not yet known whether her competency could eventually be restored to a level that might enable the state to try again to execute her. Dr Zivot had previously said the likelihood of recovering from lethal injection was low. "Most people who get lethal injection die from it," he explained.
Background and Aftermath
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow student at the Knoxville Job Corps. Pike was 18 at the time and believed Slemmer was a romantic rival for the affections of her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp. Slemmer was lured to a secluded area before she was tortured and killed. Pike was convicted of first-degree murder the following year and sentenced to death.
Slemmer's mother, May Martinez, travelled to Nashville to witness Pike's execution last week, but was left devastated when the lethal injection failed. She later said: "I didn't get justice for my daughter."
Pike's lawyers have also said she is the only person known to have survived a completed execution attempt in the US. Authorities have yet to say whether they will make another attempt to execute Pike and have not publicly explained what went wrong during last week's procedure.
Witnesses described how the procedure went wrong after Pike was given the lethal injection. A curtain separating witnesses from the death chamber was closed before officials later reopened it as they attempted the execution again. Pike's lawyer was ordered back into the death chamber before the curtain reopened for the second attempt. The state's execution protocol does not set out what should happen if a second round of drugs fails to kill a prisoner. Pike's lawyers have said they were not allowed inside the death chamber after the curtain was subsequently closed. Emergency vehicles later arrived at the prison and witnesses saw a convoy leave with its sirens on.
