Christa Pike now walking after US execution went wrong, lawyer says | Lethal injections are not a…

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Christa Pike now walking after US execution went wrong, lawyer says

Christa Pike is "up and walking" while in hospital after last week's botched attempt to execute her in the US state of Tennessee, a member of her legal team says.

Pike, 50, who was sentenced to death after murdering Colleen Slemmer with her then-boyfriend in 1995, survived two lethal injections on 30 September. Experts described it as unprecedented.

Speaking late on Wednesday to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, lawyer Stephen Ferrell said he had not spoken to Pike directly but that he had learned she was moving around her hospital room for the first time while still being mentally "foggy".

Earlier, a court ordered the state of Tennessee to preserve all evidence related to the failed execution.

Lethal injections are not as humane as suggested, say experts

Christa Pike's execution via lethal injection was botched. (Reuters: J Miles Cary/Knoxville News Sentinel/USA Today Network)

Experts say death penalty via lethal injection is not as humane as people are led to believe.

Lethal injection has a botch rate that is double of all other methods.

Christa Pike's lawyers have moved for her sentence to be life in prison with no parole.

Lethal injection has often been portrayed by United States authorities as a humane form of execution, however US legal academics say the botched execution of Christa Pike has exposed it as anything but.

Warning: This story contains details that may be distressing for some readers.

Christa Pike’s attorneys believed she was brain-dead before she woke up ‘to the shock of everyone’

A judge sided with the Tennessee inmate and ruled that evidence from her botched execution should be preserved.

• Christa Pike’s attorneys said they believed she was “brain-dead” after her botched execution last week – before she woke up and started talking. She is “angry and confused about everything right now,” but is “very aware that the state tried to execute her,” attorney Randy Spivey told reporters. Pike has a “long road to recovery,” he added.

• The attorneys spoke after they were granted an emergency motion ordering the state to preserve evidence related to the execution. This includes 911 calls and communications between any state officials as well as physical evidence, Judge I’Ashea Myles said.

For more detailed information, explore updates concerning Christa Pike now.

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