Christa Pike is conscious and speaking in a Nashville-area hospital, her attorneys said Tuesday, six days after Tennessee's attempt to execute her by lethal injection left her unconscious and on a ventilator.
The statement is the first indication that Pike's condition has improved since the Sept. 30 execution attempt. As recently as Sunday, her legal team said she remained unconscious and intubated.
Pike, 50, survived two doses of pentobarbital. Her lawyers said the drugs left her arms burned and blistered, and that despite the severe damage she remains handcuffed and shackled to her hospital bed.
"Against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care," her attorneys said in a statement. "Her recovery is medically unprecedented. Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery."
Dr. Joel Zivot, a professor of anesthesiology and surgery in Atlanta who consulted as an expert for Pike's legal team, said the development "bodes well for a good recovery." But he cautioned that it could be weeks or months before anyone knows what her recovery will look like.
"She's still in the ICU," Zivot said. "She has recovered to a certain degree that she's able to be off a ventilator and able to speak, but in no way would I announce her free of further serious risk."
Pike's attorneys are due in court Wednesday as they seek an order requiring the Tennessee Department of Correction to preserve evidence from the failed execution, including drug lot numbers, records and other information. Chancery Court Judge I'Ashea Myles scheduled a Wednesday morning status conference in the case.
The Department of Correction said it "followed every step of the State's lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General's Office" and that the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out. In court filings, Pike's lawyers have accused the department of "deliberate indifference to her basic medical needs and reckless disregard of basic medical practices and their own lethal injection protocol."
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. She would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in 200 years.
Following the failed execution, Gov. Bill Lee ordered an independent, third-party review led by former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton and halted the state's next scheduled execution. Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada announced his resignation days later, saying stepping aside was "in the best interest of Tennesseans" as the review moves forward.
What is confirmed: Pike is awake, off a ventilator and speaking, according to her attorneys; a court status conference is set for Wednesday; and the governor has ordered an independent review.
What remains unknown: Pike's long-term prognosis, whether she will fully recover, and whether her mental competency could be restored to a level that would allow the state to seek to execute her again.
What is awaited: the outcome of Wednesday's hearing, the findings of the independent review, and any decision by state officials on the future of Pike's death sentence.