Death row killer Christa Pike is now “up and walking” after surviving an attempt to execute her in Tennessee on September 30, but her legal team says she is still suffering from serious physical and cognitive problems. The 50-year-old was due to die by lethal injection, which would have made her the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
Failed execution leaves Pike critically ill
Instead, she was left critically ill after receiving two separate doses of the lethal drug pentobarbital. She was reportedly jabbed with needles at least seven times during the procedure and has no memory of the failed execution. Her legal team has now revealed the extent of her condition as she remains in hospital.
Speaking to the BBC, her attorney Stephen Ferrell said: “She is fairly well. Physically there is quite a bit going on that her arms are very injured and she is not able to use them very much. She is up and walking for the first time today but just around the room - not very far.”
Concerns over mental recovery
He said there were also concerns about Pike's mental recovery following the execution attempt. Ferrell added: “Mentally, which I think is the biggest part, it is kind of good and bad. Good that she is fairly with it but she is also somewhat foggy. She can lose her train of thought really easily and forgets where she is going.
“She is back, she is alive and we are happy about that but she is not mentally completely recovered. I assume it will keep improving but there could be some permanent damage.”
Electric chair suggested by candidate
Questions are also mounting over what could happen if Tennessee tries to execute Pike for a second time. The state is set to elect a new governor in November, with Republican candidate Marsha Blackburn currently the favourite in polls to succeed Bill Lee when his second term comes to an end.
Blackburn has already suggested the electric chair should be used following the failed lethal injection. Speaking about Pike's case, she said: “while there should be a thorough review of what happened and why the process failed, the answer is simple: bring back the electric chair and deliver justice for these victims swiftly.”
Pike has been behind bars for three decades for the 1995 murder of her 19-year-old college classmate Colleen Slemmer. Slemmer was tortured and bludgeoned, while a pentagram was carved into her body. Pike also kept a piece of her victim's skull as a souvenir.
Despite the horrific nature of the crime, Pike's lawyers are now calling for her death sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment without parole. Ferrell said: “There should be clemency - a commutation from the death sentence to life without parole. Given her history, given she was only 18 at the time with bi-polar disorder and suffering from a long history of sexual abuse, we feel that would be a just sentence. It is more severe than her co-defendant.”
Governor Lee has ordered a full investigation into the failed execution and halted all executions in Tennessee for the remainder of 2026. Pike's lawyers are also preparing for a possible legal fight over any attempt to put her to death again.
Ferrell said: “The plan is something that we have talked about what we might do. I am certainly not going to talk about our theories at this time because in a lot of ways they are just theories.
“We have got to do our research and we have got to know what the state of Tennessee plans to do but we are certainly going to fight to prevent this happening again. The governor has ordered an investigation and also ordered no executions are carried out this year. Politics are part of everything here.
“Our current governor is going to be finishing his first term somewhere in early January and a new governor will take his place. That new governor, the polls right now have it being the Republican candidate who has indicated it should be the electric chair.”
