Christa Pike, sentenced to death for the first-degree murder of a classmate in 1996 --when she was 19 years old-- and hospitalized for more than a week after a failed execution attempt, presents a "great cognitive confusion," according to her legal team one day after she regained consciousness.
Attorney Randy Spivey noted this Wednesday at a press conference that his client, 50 years old, has developed pneumonia and is receiving assisted feeding, as she suffers from a blood clot in one arm and is unable to move both upper limbs.
According to the lawyer, Pike's first words upon waking the previous day in the hospital were "where am I and who are you?", although he specified that she was aware of the execution attempt and that she was "angry."
The legal team had concluded, on Monday night, that Pike was in "brain death," so her awakening the next day caused them considerable surprise.
These statements come after the court hearing held this Wednesday in Nashville, where Judge I'Ashea Myles accepted the request from Pike's defense to preserve all evidence related to the execution attempt from the previous week.
Another of her lawyers, Luke Ihnen, argued before the court that this evidence could be crucial if his client had to appeal a new execution attempt in the future.
Pike regained consciousness a week after surviving the intravenous administration of two doses of pentobarbital, given according to the execution protocol of the state of Tennessee, according to state authorities.
The case has triggered the resignation of the head of the Tennessee Department of Corrections, Frank Strada, and the temporary suspension of executions, reigniting criticism directed at the state for the way it manages the death penalty.
In May, the execution of Tony Carruthers had to be canceled after medical staff failed to establish an intravenous access after more than an hour of attempts. Mark Fowler, the doctor who intervened in the failed procedure against Carruthers, also supervised the execution attempt of Pike, according to the WSMV network.