Christa Pike: Death row inmate ‘conscious and speaking’ after failed execution, lawyer says

US death row inmate Christa Pike is awake and speaking almost a week after a failed execution attempt at a Tennessee prison, her lawyers say.

Pike, 50, is receiving critical medical treatment at a hospital in Nashville after she survived two doses of the lethal injection drug pentobarbital on September 30, according to a statement from her attorneys, as cited by the BBC.

Her lawyers previously said Pike was unconscious as medical staff worked to removed the drug — a short-acting barbiturate that depresses the central nervous system — from her body after it was unsuccessful.

“Against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care,” the latest statement issued Pike’s attorneys on Tuesday reads.

“Despite the severe damage she endured to her arms, she is still handcuffed and shackled to the bed.”

Her legal team described her recovery as “medically unprecedented,” while warning that her long-term prognosis remains uncertain.

“Her recovery is medically unprecedented. Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery,” Pike’s attorneys said.

According to her legal team, Pike is the only person known to have have survived a completed execution attempt in the United States.

Grisly details of the botched execution later emerged from witnesses who reported that Pike fell asleep and began “snoring loudly” before her legal team were granted an emergency motion to cease any further attempts at ending her life.

Medical reports revealed Pike’s arm was left “swollen, burned and blistered” after seven needles were used to administer the drug.

The major development in Pike’s condition comes after Stephen Farrell, one of her lawyers, previously said it was too early to know the extent of her recovery or whether she would suffer lasting effects.

“I think one of the main things that will leave this up in the air for a while is the fact that we don’t know what the prognosis is, as in, the long-term prognosis. If she recovers, she may not fully recover,” Mr Ferrell told CNN.

“And there may be issues about her competence. We just don’t know any of this.”

She was serving a death sentence following her conviction for the 1995 murder of her 19-year-old classmate, Colleen Slemmer.

Pike was 18 when she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, beat and tortured Slemmer before killing her after the three met at a job-training programme for troubled teenagers.

The failed execution has prompted further scrutiny of Tennessee’s death penalty procedures, with Governor Bill Lee suspending executions in the State for the remainder of the year.

Just days later, Mr Lee announced the head of Tennessee’s prison system, Frank Strada, would step down from his role in October.