US death row inmate Christa Pike conscious and speaking after failed execution, lawyers say
Death row inmate Christa Pike is conscious and recovering after a failed lethal injection attempt in Tennessee. Legal experts describe her survival as an unprecedented event in the history of capital punishment.
Why it matters
The case challenges existing protocols for lethal injections and raises complex ethical and legal questions regarding the death penalty.
Figure caption, Watch: What we know about Christa Pike’s "unprecedented" recovery after failed execution
US death row inmate Christa Pike is "conscious and speaking" after surviving a failed execution attempt in Tennessee last week, her lawyers say.
Pike, 50, continues to receive critical medical care while "handcuffed and shackled to the bed" in hospital, her lawyers said in a statement on Tuesday.
Pike, who was sentenced to death after murdering Colleen Slemmer with her then-boyfriend in 1995, survived two failed lethal injections last Wednesday in Tennessee.
She was taken to hospital, where she remained unconscious for days as medical staff cleared her body of the injected chemical. Experts and her legal team say her apparent recovery is unprecedented.
Pike is believed to be the only person to survive a lethal injection.
Her lawyers said her prognosis remained unclear, but that "at a minimum, we expect a long recovery".
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