Christa Pike, a convicted murderer, survived a lethal injection execution attempt in Tennessee on September 30 and woke up in a hospital "angry and confused", according to her lawyer Randy Spivey.
Pike, 50, is believed to be the only person to survive an execution by lethal injection in the United States. She remained unconscious for days after receiving two rounds of the drug pentobarbital before regaining consciousness on Tuesday and beginning to speak with limited recollection of events.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer alongside her then-boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp when both were teenagers. She was 18 at the time of the killing.
Upon waking, Pike's first questions were "Where am I?" and "Who are you?", Spivey said at a news conference. She now faces critical medical complications including a blood clot in her arm, pneumonia, an inability to swallow, and severely swollen arms. She remains restrained at her hands and feet in her hospital bed.
During the failed execution, Pike assisted the execution team in finding a vein in her arm and was described as "kind and polite" while being injected. Spivey said his legal team believed for days that Pike was brain dead and expected her to be taken off life support.
On Wednesday, a judge ordered Tennessee to preserve all evidence from the botched execution, including IV lines, syringes, and packaging. The order also requires documentation of Pike's psychological condition before, during, and after the attempt. Pike's legal team requested that the state preserve the evidence as a foundation for a potential future lawsuit against Tennessee.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee ordered a pause on all executions in the state through the end of the year and requested answers about what went wrong. The state's prisons chief announced his resignation following the failed execution.
Pike's lawyers sought court approval for phone access and continuous access to their client. They also requested that Tennessee Department of Corrections provide 48 hours' notice before transferring Pike from the hospital. Lawyers objected to Pike remaining shackled to her hospital bed despite medical staff requests for the removal of handcuffs.
Tennessee Assistant Attorney General Will Ayers said he did not know whether the state intended to reschedule Pike's execution.