Death row inmate Christa Pike, 50, who became the first US prisoner to survive a botched lethal injection in Tennessee, has been discharged from hospital and returned to her maximum-security jail cell
Death row survivor Christa Pike has been discharged from the hospital and dragged straight back to her maximum-security prison cell following two failed lethal injection attempts, her lawyers have confirmed.
The 50-year-old killer was discharged by doctors and shoved back into the Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center – the high-security women’s jail where she has been for the last 30 years.
In a dramatic statement released today (October 10), her legal team revealed the botched-execution survivor is back in prison after the state of Tennessee’s attempt to execute her crumbled into medical chaos. Her attorneys said: “She is grateful to the first responders and her medical team for their care in these extraordinary circumstances.
“She is continuing to receive medical care at the prison, and we will continue to track her recovery.” Christa became the first US death row prisoner ever to survive a lethal injection on September 30 in Tennessee, USA.
The prisoner was sentenced to death for the brutal killing of her 19-year-old Job Corps classmate, Colleen Slemmer in January 1995 when she was 18, the Daily Star previously explained. On Monday night (October 5), her legal team believed she was brain dead and would be taken off life support the following day.
Instead, she regained consciousness and began speaking on Tuesday morning – and by Wednesday afternoon was taking steps with assistance. The state has yet to confirm whether Pike’s execution will be rescheduled at a later date.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee halted all remaining executions this year in the wake of the debacle and commissioned an independent investigation into what went awry. Pike’s legal team have urged Governor Lee to reduce Pike’s sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Nevertheless, Davidson County Chancery Court Chancellor I’Ashea Myles also handed Pike a shock lifeline by putting her initial challenge back on the court schedule, the Daily Star previously reported. The legal move does not strike down the state’s execution protocol, but rather reactivates a lawsuit Pike originally launched in January that got frozen in red tape.
Pike’s legal team had warned before the failed execution that Tennessee’s single-drug method using pentobarbital was plagued with issues.
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