Female death row inmate who survived botched execution is conscious, speaking

Christa Pike, a 50-year-old female death row inmate, is conscious and speaking after surviving a botched execution at a Tennessee prison. She had received two lethal injections of pentobarbital a week ago, but was rushed to hospital and had been unconscious and on a ventilator in critical condition. According to her lawyers, her recovery is medically unprecedented.

Pike was sentenced to death for a murder she committed at the age of 18. Her lawyers reported that despite severe damage to her arms, she remains handcuffed and shackled to her bed, and continues to receive critical medical care. Her prognosis remains unclear, but a long recovery is expected.

The failed execution led to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee suspending the carrying out of capital punishment in the state, pending an independent investigation. The prison chief has resigned. Pike's lawyers have repeated their call for Lee to commute her sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Brief written by urgent.news from National Post, Free Malaysia Today, New Straits Times — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.