Christa Pike Conscious, Speaking After Failed Tennessee Execution Attempt

Christa Pike regained consciousness and is speaking limitedly six days after Tennessee's failed attempt to execute her by lethal injection, one of her attorneys stated during a court hearing Wednesday.

Pike, 50, survived after executioners administered two lethal doses of pentobarbital on September 30. The Death Penalty Information Center identifies Pike as the only person to survive after receiving lethal injection drugs during an execution. Her attorneys were in Nashville seeking a court order to compel the Tennessee Department of Correction to preserve evidence, including drug lot numbers, needles, and execution logs, and to provide more information about the incident.

Pike's legal team reported her prognosis remains unclear, and she faces a lengthy recovery, with her arms burned and blistered from the attempted lethal injection. She remains handcuffed to her hospital bed. Medical experts suggest her survival could be due to factors like drug quality or improper IV line placement, noting Tennessee's executioners had prior difficulties with IV lines.

Dr. Groner, a retired pediatric general surgeon, indicated that a small amount of the drug likely entered her bloodstream, suggesting a botched execution. Pike's attorneys claim she was poked with needles at least seven times and has a lifelong blood disorder affecting IV access. Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer and would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in 200 years.

Republican Governor Bill Lee ordered an investigation into the failed execution and paused all state executions for the rest of the year. Frank Strada, head of the Tennessee Department of Corrections, resigned following the incident.