Christa Pike has been released from hospital and returned to the women’s prison in Tennessee where she has spent the past 30 years, after surviving a failed lethal injection.
The 50-year-old death row inmate was taken to hospital for emergency treatment after her execution on 30 September did not result in her death. Her lawyers confirmed that she had since been discharged but said she continued to receive medical attention.
Pike’s attorneys said she was grateful to the first responders and medical professionals who treated her. They added that her recovery was still being monitored.
She had been due to be executed for the 1995 murder of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer, who was beaten and stabbed to death.
The execution involved two doses of pentobarbital, the drug used by Tennessee for lethal injections. Pike survived both doses and was taken to hospital instead of being pronounced dead.
The incident has prompted questions about Tennessee’s lethal injection procedures. A judge has also ordered the Tennessee Department of Correction to preserve all evidence connected with the failed execution.
