Christa Pike Regains Consciousness

Christa Pike is conscious and speaking in a Nashville hospital nearly a week after Tennessee’s attempt to execute her failed. Her attorneys say she is still handcuffed and shackled to her bed while receiving critical care. Tennessee gave Pike two doses of pentobarbital on September 30, but she survived and was taken by ambulance to a hospital. Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 torture and murder of classmate Colleen Slemmer, committed when Pike was 18. Her lawyers say faulty IV access may have sent the drug into tissue, while the prison department says it followed protocol. Her prognosis remains unclear, and a court hearing on preserving evidence is scheduled for Wednesday.