Christa Pike is showing signs of recovery after Tennessee’s failed attempt to execute her, but her condition remains serious. In an interview with BBC Radio 4, her attorney Stephen Ferrell said Pike had gotten up to walk for the first time since being hospitalized. He said he hasn’t spoken to Pike directly but learned she was moving around her hospital room while still being mentally “foggy.”
The Christa Pike condition update included details about her physical state. “She is up and walking for the first time today, but just around the room, not very far,” Ferrell said. Pike is reportedly still experiencing the aftereffects of pentobarbital, the drug she was injected with during last week’s attempted execution. Ferrell said she is doing “fairly well” physically but that “her arms are very injured and she’s not able to use them very much.”
Mentally, Ferrell described her state as a mixed picture. “I think it’s kind of good and bad. Good that she is fairly with it, but she’s also somewhat foggy. She can lose her train of thought really easily and forgets where she’s going.” Pike was sentenced to death 30 years ago for the murder of Colleen Slemmer. Since the failed execution, a court has ordered Tennessee to preserve all evidence related to the attempt, which could be used in a future lawsuit against the state. A third-party review ordered by Governor Bill Lee is ongoing.
