US death row inmate Christa Pike regains consciousness after failed Tennessee execution
In short
Christa Pike, 50, who survived an attempted execution by lethal injection in the US state of Tennessee on September 30, has regained consciousness in hospital and can speak, her legal team said. According to her lawyer, her first words were "Where am I?" and "Who are you?". A court in Nashville on October 7 ordered the state to preserve evidence from the failed execution.
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Christa Pike, a death row inmate in the US state of Tennessee who survived an attempted execution, has regained consciousness while being treated in hospital and is able to speak, her legal team said in a statement, according to CNN as carried by Yahoo! News Japan and to the Sankei Shimbun. Sankei said the statement was issued on October 6 and was also reported by the online edition of People magazine. [ 1 , 2 ]
The legal team said that despite every difficulty, Pike is conscious and talking and continues to receive medical treatment for a critical condition, describing her recovery as medically unprecedented. It also said she is the only person in the United States confirmed to have survived after the full execution process was attempted, Sankei reported. [ 2 ]
According to a Kyodo report from New York carried by Livedoor News, citing US media, Pike's first words after regaining consciousness were "Where am I?" and "Who are you?", her lawyer said on October 7. The lawyer said she understands what happened to her and feels "anger and confusion". The legal team had believed on the night of October 5 that she was already brain dead and expected life support to be withdrawn soon, but she regained consciousness and began speaking on October 6, the report said. Tokyo Shimbun and Nishi-Nippon Shimbun ran the same report under the headline that the inmate asked "Where am I?". [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]
Sankei reported that the execution was attempted on September 30, when two lethal doses of the anaesthetic pentobarbital were injected. Pike did not die and was snoring, so the execution was halted; she was left in critical condition and received life-saving treatment. [ 2 ]
Following the failure, Governor Bill Lee ordered a review and postponed the one remaining execution the state had scheduled this year, Sankei reported. A court in the state capital, Nashville, on October 7 ordered the state to preserve evidence related to the failed execution, including syringes and intravenous tubes, according to the Kyodo report. [ 2 , 3 ]
Pike, 50, was sentenced to death for killing a teenage girl who was a fellow trainee at a vocational training facility in 1995, when Pike was 18, according to Sankei. [ 2 ]
Why it matters
Pike's legal team called her the only person confirmed to have survived the full process of an attempted execution in the United States. The failure led Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to order a review and postpone the state's one remaining execution scheduled this year, and a court has ordered evidence preserved, the Japanese outlets reported.
Key facts
- Christa Pike, 50, survived an attempted execution in Tennessee on September 30. [ 2 ]
- Two lethal doses of the anaesthetic pentobarbital were injected; she did not die and was snoring, so the execution was halted. [ 2 ]
- Her legal team said in a statement that she has regained consciousness in hospital and can talk. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- Her lawyer said her first words after waking were "Where am I?" and "Who are you?". [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]
- Governor Bill Lee ordered a review and postponed the state's one remaining execution scheduled this year. [ 2 ]
- A court in Nashville on October 7 ordered the state to preserve evidence such as syringes and IV tubes. [ 3 ]
- Pike was sentenced to death for killing a teenage girl, a fellow trainee at a vocational training facility, in 1995 when she was 18. [ 2 ]
Confirmed by several sources
Still unclear
- What caused the execution to fail. None of the documents give a cause; a linked headline on Yahoo! News Japan only asks what the problem was.
- Whether Pike is the first woman executed in the US in more than 200 years. This appears only in a related FNN Prime Online headline carried on Yahoo! News Japan, not in the article body.
- Pike's current medical condition and prognosis. Her legal team says she is still being treated for a critical condition; no medical source is cited.
- Whether the state will attempt the execution again. The documents do not say.
- Christa Pike survived an attempted execution by lethal injection in Tennessee. Reported by a single source so far
- Pike has regained consciousness in hospital and can speak, according to her legal team. Reported by a single source so far
What local media are saying
Timeline, local time
- Yahoo! News Japan carries the CNN report that Pike has regained consciousness and can speak (Oct 7). [ 1 ]
- Sankei Shimbun reports the legal team's October 6 statement and the governor's review (Oct 7). [ 2 ]
- Livedoor News carries the Kyodo report that Pike's first words were "Where am I?" and that a Nashville court ordered evidence preserved (Oct 8). [ 3 ]
- Tokyo Shimbun runs the report on her first words after regaining consciousness (Oct 8). [ 4 ]