Christa Pike released from hospital following botched execution, lawyers say

Christa Pike, an 18-year-old at the time of her conviction, has been released from the hospital and returned to prison following a botched lethal injection in Tennessee. Pike, now 50, was convicted of murdering her classmate, Colleen Slemmer, in 1995. The execution, scheduled for September 30, was halted after Pike was confirmed alive and in the hospital, an unprecedented occurrence in U.S. modern death penalty history.

Pike has shown significant progress since her hospitalization, with her legal team reporting she can now walk with assistance, her arms are healing, her lungs are clear, and she has started to eat a regular diet. Pike's attorneys have requested the preservation of records and evidence related to her failed execution and renewed their plea for Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute her death sentence to life in prison without parole.