Christa Pike Returns To Prison After Failed Execution

Christa Pike has returned to prison after being discharged from hospital following Tennessee’s failed attempt to execute her by lethal injection.

The 50-year-old was transferred back to the Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, where she had been held for about 30 years, her attorneys said in a statement released Saturday.http://Christa Pike Awake And Talking After Failed Execution

Pike is continuing to receive medical care at the facility as her recovery is monitored by her legal team.

Her lawyers said she was grateful to the first responders and medical professionals who treated her following the failed execution, describing the circumstances as extraordinary.

Tennessee attempted to execute Pike on September 30 for the 1995 murder of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer. Pike was convicted of beating and stabbing Slemmer to death when both were young women.

The execution attempt failed after Pike received two doses of pentobarbital, the drug used in Tennessee’s lethal injection procedure. She was taken to hospital, where she remained until her recent discharge.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Pike is the first known person to survive after receiving lethal injection drugs during an execution attempt in the United States.

Her return to prison marks a new stage in her recovery following an execution that has drawn scrutiny over the state’s lethal injection procedures.