US death row inmate Christa Pike conscious after failed execution, lawyers say

What the report says

BBC World News reports that Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike is conscious and speaking after a failed execution attempt, according to a statement from her lawyers. Pike, 50, is receiving critical medical care in a Nashville hospital and remains handcuffed while under treatment, her attorneys said.

The BBC says Pike was convicted in the 1995 killing of Colleen Slemmer and sentenced to death. She was 18 at the time of the crime, which prosecutors said involved Pike and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, attacking, torturing and killing the 19-year-old after meeting her at a job training camp for troubled teens. Pike reportedly survived two lethal injections last week before being transferred for hospital care.

Her lawyers described her condition as medically unusual and said her recovery could be long, though her prognosis is still unclear. They also said she is the only person known to have survived a completed execution attempt in the United States. Authorities have not said whether they will try again to carry out the execution or explained what went wrong.

The case comes as Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has suspended executions for the rest of the year, and the state’s prisons chief has said he plans to resign. The developments have renewed attention on execution procedures and the handling of lethal injection cases in the state.