Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike is conscious after failed execution

Death row inmate Christa Pike is conscious and speaking after surviving a failed execution attempt in Tennessee, BBC News US and The Hill reported. Lawyers for the 50 year old confirmed on Tuesday that she was awake, nearly a week after receiving two doses of pentobarbital. [1][2]

BBC News US and The Hill reported that Pike survived two lethal injection doses at Riverbend Maximum Security Prison. She was taken by ambulance to a Nashville area hospital, where she remained unconscious for days while medical staff cleared the drug from her body. [1][2]

Pike was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19 year old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. At age 20, she became one of the youngest women sentenced to death in the United States. [1][8][9]

As FTMQ Politics reported earlier, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee ordered an independent review and paused all executions in the state following the botched procedure. The head of the Tennessee prison system also agreed to resign. [10]