Tennessee inmate Christa Pike has returned to the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, her attorneys announced Saturday, following a week of hospitalization after she survived the state's attempted lethal injection. The legal team confirmed that Pike, 50, is continuing to receive medical care at the prison facility where she had been housed for decades.
The execution attempt on Sept. 30 resulted in Pike receiving two doses of pentobarbital, a lethal drug, yet she remained breathing. The state dispatched an ambulance, and she received life-saving care at a local hospital. Her attorneys reported that medical staff initially believed she was brain dead and on life support. They expressed surprise when Pike woke up and began talking earlier this week.
In a statement, Pike's attorneys expressed gratitude to first responders and her medical team for their care during these extraordinary circumstances. They added that they would continue to track her recovery. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has ordered an independent review to determine how Pike survived the attempted execution. A subsequent execution scheduled for December was cancelled while that investigation proceeds. Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.