Christa Pike Discharged From Hospital After Botched Execution Attempt

Christa Pike, 50, was discharged from the hospital and moved back to the Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, a women's prison, according to a statement from her attorneys.

Pike had been hospitalized since September 30 after surviving two doses of pentobarbital during Tennessee's attempt to execute her by lethal injection. Her attorneys stated she is grateful to first responders and her medical team and is continuing to receive medical care at the prison. Pike was convicted in 1995 for the beating and stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer.

She was 18 at the time of the murder, which she committed with her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp. Court filings show Pike tortured and killed Slemmer, slashing her with a meat cleaver and box cutter for up to an hour in a wooded part of the University of Tennessee campus, with help from her boyfriend and a friend.

Earlier this week, Pike regained consciousness and began speaking, surprising experts, medical staff, and her lawyers. Her physical recovery was described as remarkable by her attorneys on Thursday. On Wednesday, Pike began taking limited steps with help, and on Thursday, she was walking with some assistance, her arms were healing and regaining movement and strength, and her lungs are clear, and she had started to eat a regular diet.

Pike is believed to be the only person to have survived a lethal injection execution attempt in the U.S., according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The failed execution has brought scrutiny on how states carry out the death penalty.