Krista Pike, a death row inmate convicted of murder in the U.S. state of Tennessee, has regained consciousness and is speaking following the authorities’ failed attempt to execute her, her defense attorneys announced on Tuesday.
“Against all expectations, Krista Pike has regained consciousness, is speaking, and continues to receive critical medical treatment,” they noted.
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Krista Pike was scheduled to be executed last week, according to state authorities. However, she remained alive after two doses of a lethal solution—containing pentobarbital as the active ingredient—were administered intravenously, as required by protocol.
Eyewitnesses reported that Paik continued to breathe, with great difficulty, for a long period of time. Her defense attorney said she was heard talking, singing, and crying after being given the first dose. She was transported to a hospital outside the prison.
It is unclear how or why she survived—whether it was because the infusion lines were not properly inserted into her body or because her veins were damaged. It remains unclear at this stage whether a new attempt will be made to execute her should she make a full recovery.
READ ALSO: Krista Pike: The first detailed report on her health condition following her failed execution
Although her hands have suffered extensive injuries, the death row inmate continues to be treated while shackled to her hospital bed, her lawyers stated.
“Her recovery is unprecedented from a medical standpoint,” and the prognosis remains “unclear,” but “we expect a long recovery,” they noted. “She is the only person known to have survived a full execution process in the U.S.,” they added.
They have requested that she not be executed and that her sentence be commuted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Before she was taken to the chamber where the execution attempt took place, her defense team had already been seeking a commutation of her sentence, citing the history of sexual abuse she suffered as a child, the mental illness he had been diagnosed with, and his good behavior after more than three decades in prison.
The request was denied by the court.
She had been sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of a 19-year-old woman when she was still 18 years old. The victim, Colleen Schlemmer, was tortured and murdered at a remote location not far from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
Meanwhile, another death row inmate, 46-year-old Jamal Howard, was scheduled to be executed yesterday in Huntsville, Texas.
This was expected to be the 30th execution of the year in the country.
He had been sentenced to death for the murder of Vicky Lee Swartout, 42, a convenience store clerk. Since his legal remedies had been exhausted, the defense asked Texas Governor Greg Abbott for a 30-day stay, following the “horrific failure of the execution” of death row inmate Pike a week ago.
President Donald Trump is an outspoken supporter of the death penalty. On Monday, he gave the green light for the perpetrator of the 2009 attack at Fort Hood, Texas—which left 13 dead—to be executed by a military firing squad. It will be the first execution carried out by the U.S. armed forces since 1961.
The Department of Justice announced measures in April aimed at facilitating the imposition of the death penalty in federal cases.
Source: CNA
