Christa Pike was “confused and angry” after regaining consciousness this week, her lawyers and a friend revealed. The 50-year-old Death Row inmate was rushed to hospital after a botched execution attempt at the Riverbend Institute in Nashville.
Pike – who was sentenced to death for the brutal 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer – managed to survive two doses of the lethal injection pentobarbital on September 30. After waking up in a closely guarded hospital bed, she told a friend she "was ready to die".
Severe chemical burns and swelling
According to the Mail, Pike’s hands now “look like rubber gloves” because of how swollen they are. She is marked by severe chemical burns – mostly caused by the bleach-like drug that spilled into her flesh rather than into her bloodstream as intended.
Marcy – a mother of a woman Pike befriended while in prison – said Pike told her days before the intended execution she was “ready to go”.
Marcy told the Mail: “It was bad news one day, good news the next,” she says. “The hospital declared her brain dead on Monday night and then she wakes up talking the next morning…
“It makes me wonder. Did they even do a test on her brain or were the authorities just trying to get her off the ventilator?”
Return to prison and legal response
Pike has now been discharged from the hospital and dragged straight back to her maximum-security prison cell following two failed lethal injection attempts, her lawyers have confirmed.
In a statement released yesterday (October 10), her legal team revealed the botched-execution survivor is back in prison after the state of Tennessee's attempt to execute her crumbled into medical chaos.
Her attorneys said: “She is grateful to the first responders and her medical team for their care in these extraordinary circumstances.
"She is continuing to receive medical care at the prison, and we will continue to track her recovery."
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee halted all remaining executions this year in the wake of the debacle and commissioned an independent investigation into what went awry.
Pike's legal team have urged Governor Lee to reduce Pike's sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
