US woman who survived botched execution is conscious, speaking
Christa Pike, who was sentenced to death for a murder she committed as a teenager, received two lethal doses at a Tennessee prison a week ago.
Christa Pike, a 50-year-old woman sentenced to death for a murder she committed as a teenager, is now conscious and speaking after surviving a failed execution in a US prison. Pike was administered two doses of the drug pentobarbital at a Tennessee prison last week, but she survived the injections and was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, unconscious and on a ventilator.
Her lawyers stated that her recovery is medically unprecedented, with an unclear prognosis and a long recovery expected. Despite severe damage to her arms, she remains handcuffed and shackled to the bed. Pike's lawyers have called for Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute her sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
The prison chief has resigned following the incident, which sparked debate over the death penalty for young offenders. Pike was 18 when she and her boyfriend killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995, an incident that gained national attention due to the murder's grisly details.
Written by urgent.news from Free Malaysia Today's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
