US death row inmate Christa Pike “conscious and talking” after surviving lethal injection | BBC News

A BBC News report on US death row inmate Christa Pike, who is reported by her lawyers to be conscious and speaking after a failed execution attempt in Tennessee. Pike, 50, remains under medical care in hospital while handcuffed, according to her attorneys' statement. She was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer. Her lawyers describe her recovery as medically unprecedented and expect a long recovery. Authorities have not said whether they will attempt another execution or explained what went wrong. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has suspended all executions for the rest of the year, and the head of the state's prisons plans to resign. The report notes that Pike is believed to be the only person known to have survived a completed execution attempt in the US, according to criminologist Deborah Denno of Fordham Law School.

• Christa Pike is reported by her lawyers to be conscious and speaking after a failed execution in Tennessee
• Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer
• Tennessee Governor Bill Lee suspended all executions for the rest of the year
• Authorities have not explained what went wrong or said whether they will try again

US death row inmate Christa Pike is conscious and speaking, after surviving a failed execution attempt in the US state of Tennessee, her lawyers have said. Pike, 50, continues to receive critical medical care while handcuffed in hospital, according to the statement from her attorneys. She was sentenced to death following her conviction for murdering Colleen Slemmer in 1995. But Pike survived two lethal injections and was transferred to a hospital in Nashville for treatment. Her lawyers had said in the days afterwards that she was unconscious while medical staff cleared her body of the pentobarbital injected during the execution attempt. It was suggested that she might have suffered irreversible brain damage. Pike's lawyers said that her recovery is "medically unprecedented", and while her prognosis remains unclear, "at a minimum, we expect a long recovery". They said she is the only person known to have survived a completed execution attempt in the US. Deborah Denno, a criminologist and professor at Fordham Law School, said she was "absolutely astonished" that Pike is conscious and speaking. There were seven other cases where prisoners survived slated executions, but in those cases, executioners were not able to inject anything into the inmates' veins, Denno told the BBC. Pike "is the only person for whom some kind of toxin has been injected," she said. "They did everything they were supposed to do as part of the execution process, and it simply didn't work," Denno said. "This has never happened before." Authorities have not yet said whether they will try again to execute Pike. They have also not offered an explanation for what went wrong. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee suspended all executions for the rest of the year. The head of prisons in the state said that he plans to resign. Pike was 18 when she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, beat, tortured and killed 19-year-old Slemmer, whom they had met at a job training camp for troubled teens. Jane Hill presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Sarah Smith. Subscribe to our channel here: https://bbc.in/bbcnews For the latest news download the BBC News app or visit BBC.com/news #BBCNews