Christa Pike is making a "remarkable physical recovery" after surviving two lethal injections, her lawyer has revealed. Pike was on death row for the murder of her classmate Colleen Slemmer in 1995, and survived two doses of pentobarbital in September.
Recovery and Ongoing Challenges
She has now begun her recovery, though one of her attorneys said there is still a long way to go as her cognitive function is not back to normal. Stephen Ferrell with Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee told ABC News: "We're not sure exactly of the long-term effects, but she's clearly cognitively not quite back to normal and may have a long ways to go."
"There's a lot of psychological trauma that she's going through and still suffering through. But her physical state is improving remarkably."
Prison Status and Health Update
Pike is now back in prison and recently had her request to be moved out of the infirmary denied. Ferrell said she is thinking about the victim's family and "wonders what they've been going through and how awful this must be".
He added: "She's very traumatised, having gone through this process. And of course, we're talking about a person who suffered a life of trauma..."
"It's that sort of starting a sentence and losing track of where she was going. It's not that she's unaware, but that she doesn't hold the thought very easily..."
"These are some pretty severe burns, such that when she was trying to sign some papers, she was having a hard time holding a pen, writing her signature. How long that will take to heal is still kind of unknown because this isn't a very common injury that doctors see, but they do see a significant amount of tissue damage around the injection sites."
Pike is now able to walk with assistance around her hospital room, has started to get a regular diet, and her lungs are clear, though she continues to experience pain from burns on her arms, her attorneys said Thursday.
Statement and Execution Details
Last month, she said she remains in constant pain, struggles to speak and has been largely isolated in a prison hospital after surviving a lethal injection in Tennessee last month. In her first public statement since, Pike said she's "deeply hurt by the incompetence that has put so many people in this terrible position."
"I continue to think about my victim's family," she said, "and the terrible pain and loss they have endured." Her attorneys had warned that her small veins and diagnosis of thrombocytosis, a blood-clotting disorder, could make IV access difficult.
In a court document, her attorney Randy Spivey said the execution team struggled to get working IV lines in Pike's arms and expressed concern that a vein might be "blowing." Pike remained awake for much of the lethal injection, saying her arm hurt and burned before falling unconscious. The execution began just before 7.30pm and an ambulance arrived at the prison about an hour and 45 minutes later.
