US death row inmate conscious, speaking after failed execution — Report

Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike is conscious and speaking six days after surviving a botched execution, CNN reports. Pike's lawyers disclosed the development in a statement, revealing she remains in hospital receiving critical medical care following two failed doses of pentobarbital. Despite severe injuries to her arms, Pike is still handcuffed and shackled to the bed, with her recovery prognosis remaining unclear.

Her attorneys attribute her survival to the execution team's struggles with intravenous access, which they believe caused the pentobarbital to enter her body rather than her bloodstream. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has halted the state's next execution and ordered an independent review of the incident, with Commissioner Frank Strada announcing his resignation amid the review.

Pike's lawyers are seeking a court order to preserve evidence from the execution attempt and have called for Governor Lee to commute her death sentence to life imprisonment without parole.

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