Christa Pike Wakes Up After Failed Execution: “Where Am I?”

The Tennessee death-row inmate survived two lethal injections and has now begun speaking and walking again in a Nashville hospital, her lawyers say

“Where am I? Who are you?” – Those were the first words Christa Pike spoke when she woke up in a Nashville hospital after surviving a failed execution last week. The 50-year-old Tennessee death-row inmate had been subjected to two lethal injections but remained alive. Now, according to her lawyers, she is talking again and has taken her first steps around her hospital room.

Pike is still struggling to understand what happened to her on September 30. Her attorneys told the BBC that she remains confused and angry, with no clear understanding yet of the events that followed the failed execution.

Her physical condition remains serious. Her arms are badly injured and she has limited use of them, attorney Stephen Ferrell said. But there has been visible progress: Pike has now managed to get out of bed and walk for the first time since the procedure.

“Tuesday evening I was told that her condition was good enough,” Ferrell told the BBC. “Physically, she has several problems, her arms are very injured and she can’t use them very much. But today she got up and walked for the first time, just around the room and not for very long.”

Ferrell said he had not spoken directly with Pike but had received information about her condition and her first movements inside the hospital room.

The next step for Pike remains uncertain. Her case has entered what is believed to be uncharted territory: she is thought to be the first person to survive an attempted execution by lethal injection.

Pike was sentenced to death in Tennessee for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer, a former classmate. Pike was 18 at the time of the killing.

Slemmer’s mother had been among those pressing for Pike’s death sentence to be carried out. After the failed execution, she described what happened as a “disaster.”

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(Photo: © AndKronos)