Christa Pike Was Considered Brain Dead, Now She’s Up and Walking: Inside Her "Long Road Ahead"
Christa Pike’s attorneys described her as being “angry and confused” after waking up in a hospital following her botched execution.
Christa Pike was thought to be brain dead after her botched execution—now, she’s up and walking.
New details are emerging about Pike’s current condition after her attorneys held a press conference Oct. 7, revealing that the initial prognosis for Pike after surviving two lethal doses of pentobarbital had been dire.
“On Monday night, it was our understanding that Christa was brain dead and that life support would be removed the next day,” attorney Randy Spivey explained during the press conference streamed by NBC News. “But on Tuesday, to the shock of everyone, including me, including her team and including the medical team, Christa woke up and began talking.”
Spivey added that Pike still had a “long road ahead” of her as the only known inmate to survive lethal injection.
“She has a blood clot in one of her arms. She has pneumonia. She is not able to swallow yet, so she has not eaten,” he said. “She cannot move either of her arms. Both of her arms and hands are tremendously swollen. And we do not know what, if any, function she will regain in her arms.”
Christa Pike is Aware of Execution Attempt and Angry, Attorney Says
Still, Pike’s attorney Stephen Ferrell told the BBC that she is already "up and walking" in her hospital room, though “not very far.”
Ferrell described the 50-year-old’s mental state as “kind of good and bad.”
“Good that she is fairly with it, but she's also somewhat foggy,” he said. “She can lose her train of thought really easily and forgets where she's going.”
After regaining consciousness, she asked “where am I?” and “who are you?” according to Spivey.
He added, “She is angry and confused about everything right now.”
Though she has some mental confusion, Spivey said she was “very aware that the state tried to execute her” and does have some memory of the Sept. 30 execution attempt, People reported.
RELATED: Christa Pike's First Words Revealed By Doctor After Botched Lethal Injection Execution
Pike’s long-term prognosis remains unclear.
"I assume [the situation for Pike] will keep improving, but there could be some permanent damage,” Ferrell told the BBC. “We don't know that yet.”
Judge Orders that State to Preserve Evidence of Christa Pike’s Execution Attempt
The state has yet to announce whether they plan to try to execute Pike again.
Her attorneys have urged Gov. Bill Lee to commute her sentence to life in prison.
For now, Lee ordered a pause on executions as an independent review is conducted to determine what went wrong. Tennessee’s Correction Commissioner Frank Strada also plans to step down from his post this month.
At a court hearing Oct. 7, Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles ordered the state to preserve any relevant evidence in connection to the execution, including IV lines and needles, medical supplies, drugs used, video recordings, notes and witness accounts, according to NBC News.
“The state will have no problem doing this,” Myles said, “because you all are already doing that.”
She also told the state that work to “claw back” any evidence that may have already been discarded that could be relevant.
During the hearing, Myles also ordered documentation of Pike’s psychological condition before and after the execution attempt, per the BBC.