What happens next after Christa Pike wakes up following botched execution

Death row inmate Christa Pike is awake and speaking after her botched execution, her lawyers have confirmed in a new update.

The 50-year-old, who was convicted of murdering fellow JobsCorp student Colleen Slemmer in 1995, survived Tennessee’s attempt to put her to death on 30 September.

Despite being administered two doses of pentobarbital and saying what she thought would be her last words, she still had a heartbeat following the procedure.

Pike’s lawyers have claimed the reason for the failure was because of problems with the IV lines that caused the drug to go into her body instead of her bloodstream, but this is not yet confirmed.

Now, in another turn of events, Pike’s recovery is ‘medically unprecedented’ as she’s receiving treatment in hospital.

Her lawyers said in a statement on Tuesday (6 October): “Against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care. Despite the severe damage she endured to her arms, she is still handcuffed and shackled to the bed.

“Her recovery is medically unprecedented. Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery.”

Pike's lawyers have issued an update following the botched execution (Tennessee Department of Correction)

Dr Joel Zivot, a professor of anaesthesiology and surgery in Atlanta who consulted as an expert for Pike’s legal team, added that the development ‘bodes well for a good recovery’.

However, he warned, it could be weeks or months before anyone knows exactly what her recovery might look like, and whether her competency could be restored to a level that might enable the state to try again to execute her.

He said: “She’s still in the ICU. She has recovered to a certain degree that she’s able to be off a ventilator and able to speak, but in no way would I announce her free of further serious risk.

“There’s still a lot of bad things that can happen here, even when everyone is doing their job well.”

Her recovery has been described as ‘medically unprecedented’ (WSMV 4 News)

What happens now that Christa Pike has woken up?

As Pike is believed to be the only person in modern history to survive after the drug was actually injected, there have understandably been questions surrounding what exactly will happen next.

Her lawyers are due to go to court on Wednesday (7 October) to learn more about what happened in the failed lethal injection.

They are seeking a court order requiring the Tennessee Department of Correction to preserve evidence, including drug lot numbers, records, and other information from the attempted execution.

Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles scheduled a Wednesday morning status conference in the case.

As per Fox17, Pike’s attorneys are also scheduled to hold a news conference on Wednesday after the 11am hearing in Davidson County Chancery Court.

Questions have arisen over whether the state will try to execute Pike again (WSMV 4 News)

Will the state try to execute Christa Pike again?

Authorities have not yet said whether they will try again to execute Pike.

They have also yet to offer an explanation for what went wrong after the double execution attempt.

And so far, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has not yet responded to the repeated calls from Pike's attorneys to commute her sentence to life in prison.

Robin Maher, executive director of the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, which does not take a stance on the death penalty, told USA Today that we’re in ‘uncharted territory’.

He said: “The US Supreme Court has not decided whether a second execution attempt would violate the Constitution since 1947. These are questions that have never needed to be asked before, and no one knows the answers.”

Following the botched execution, Lee ordered a third-party review of what went wrong, and according to Dr Paul A Lucas, an associate professor at East Carolina University, this will likely determine ‘what happens next’.

He told ABC News: "If the investigation identifies problems with how the protocol was implemented, the state may focus on correcting those procedures

"If officials followed the protocol as written and the execution nevertheless failed, that could raise more fundamental questions about the protocol itself.”

The expert concluded: "Either way, I would expect the circumstances surrounding Ms Pike's failed execution to receive significant scrutiny before Tennessee resumes executions."