After failed US execution, Christa Pike is walking but mentally ‘foggy’, lawyer says

Christa Pike, a 50-year-old convicted killer in the United States, was able to walk around her hospital room following a failed execution attempt. Pike's lawyer, Stephen Ferrell, informed the BBC that while she was walking, she was also "somewhat foggy," struggling with her train of thought and easily forgetting where she was going.

Pike was previously considered brain-dead after receiving two lethal doses of pentobarbital on Wednesday that failed to kill her. Doctors initially planned to remove life support on Tuesday, but Pike unexpectedly regained consciousness and began talking. Ferrell stated that there could be some permanent damage that remains unknown at this point.

Pike was sentenced to death in Tennessee for murdering a classmate when she was a teenager. Her lawyers have repeatedly called for Governor Bill Lee to commute her sentence to life in prison, which has been suspended pending an independent investigation. Pike is the only inmate in history to have survived after being injected with lethal execution drugs, according to the Death Penalty Information Centre.

This case is unprecedented as other botched executions in the US resulted in death. Seven executions were halted due to staff being unable to set IV lines for the lethal injection. As of the latest update, there have been 30 executions in the US this year, all by lethal injection, with the most recent being Jamaal Howard in Texas.

The death penalty is banned in 23 states, while California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania have moratoriums in place. The Pentagon recently confirmed that President Donald Trump has approved the execution of Nidal Hasan, a US Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people and wounding over 20 at Fort Hood in 2009. Hasan's execution by firing squad, scheduled for December 3, would be the first carried out by the US military since 1961.