NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Christa Pike has taken her first steps with assistance, just one week after a failed attempt to execute the Tennessee woman left her in critical condition, her lawyers said Thursday.
Pike, 50, survived two doses of pentobarbital as the state sought to put her to death eight days ago for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer. The drug didn’t kill her, and her lawyers said her arms were left burned and blistered. For the first few days of her hospitalization, Pike was unconscious and on a ventilator.
Her first steps on Wednesday were “limited” and she required some assistance as she walked. She was also able to eat for the first time, her attorneys said.
But they also warned in a statement that there was still uncertainty about her future from both a physical and legal standpoint.
The failed execution on September 30 has renewed scrutiny of how states carry out the death penalty. Texas on Wednesday carried out the first execution in the U.S. since the Tennessee attempt.
“While her physical recovery has been remarkable, significant questions remain about the long-term effects of what she endured,” her attorneys wrote in a statement on Thursday. “Christa is dealing with the profound psychological trauma of having survived a failed execution, including the terror, pain, and uncertainty of believing she was about to die.”
Pike regained consciousness on Tuesday, when she awoke and was able to speak, they said.
They initially described Pike as “angry and confused” in the hours after regaining consciousness, and added on Thursday that she continued to have challenges with concentration and memory. Doctors said that it is too early to tell what the long-term effects will be, the attorneys added.
Many questions also remain about Pike’s legal future, and specifically whether Tennessee will seek to make another attempt to execute her. Her attorneys have said that they will push for Republican Governor Bill Lee to commute her death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“She should never be subjected to another execution attempt,” the statement read.
