Killer Christa Pike awake, speaking after execution attempt

Death row inmate Christa Gail Pike, 50, was awake and talking after surviving injections meant to execute her, her lawyers said Tuesday. Pike was sentenced to death for her brutal 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer, a crime she committed at age 18. A week ago, two rounds of injections, including pentobarbital, failed to kill her. She is the only person known to have survived a full execution protocol in the United States, according to her lawyers. Tennessee officials earlier said the execution was carried out correctly.

Her attorneys said Tuesday that before the execution, they alerted the state to specific issues with her veins. But the lawyers stopped short of saying that the problems with her veins had actually contributed to her survival. Pike’s arms were severely damaged by the injection, and she was still handcuffed to her hospital bed, the lawyers said. She continued to receive critical medical care, they said.

The lawyers again called upon Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to commute her sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Tennessee’s execution protocol doesn’t say what must be done if an inmate survives the full execution protocol. Pike’s attorneys have argued that she should receive mercy due to her history of childhood sexual assault and mental illness, as well as years of solitary confinement after her crime.

Dig deeper: Read my prior report on Pike’s case for more details.