Updated at\u00a014.07 EDT<\/p>\n
Key events<\/p>\n
50-year old Christa Pike<\/a> is recovering in hospital after surviving two lethal injections in a case that has shocked many in the US and prompted a debate about the death penalty, as discussed by Today In Focus host Michael Safi and Guardian US chief reporter Ed Pilkington: <\/p>\n With a court hearing and press conference on Christa Pike<\/a> now over, here is a look at where the case currently stands:<\/p>\n Christa Pike\u2019s lawyers said she is speaking \u201climitedly\u201d and is \u201cangry and confused\u201d following a botched execution attempt involving two doses of pentobarbital last Wednesday. She remains shackled to her hospital bed.<\/p>\n Pike was declared brain dead on Monday night and her team was informed that life support would be removed the next day, her lawyers said. \u201cBut on Tuesday, to the shock of everyone \u2026 Christa woke up and began talking,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n The first thing Pike said was \u201cWhere am I and who are you?\u201d according to her lawyers. They also said upon waking, Pike inquired about her team and the family of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, whom Pike killed alongside her then boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp in 1995.<\/p>\n Her lawyers said Pike has not eaten yet and is unable to move her arms, explaining that \u201cboth her arms and hands are tremendously swollen\u201d and that she has pneumonia. \u201cChrista has a long road to recovery,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n Judge I\u2019Ashea Myles said she is granting the motion to preserve all relevant evidence after telling the court: \u201cThis case is unique to say the least.\u201d Myles listed of things Tennessee<\/a> officials must preserve, including all drugs, IV lines and tubing that are in the state\u2019s possession \u2013 \u201canything that was in the actual room\u201d must be preserved and \u201cthat includes trash\u201d.<\/p>\n Pike\u2019s lawyers have asked that she be unshackled from her hospital bed. \u201cBased on our understanding, medical staff have asked that the shackles be removed and have been denied that request by [the Tennessee<\/a> corrections department],\u201d they said in court, adding: \u201cWe would also amend our request and ask for that relief.\u201d<\/p>\n Pike\u2019s lawyers also told the court that the state of Tennessee had made no promises that it will not seek a future execution. \u201cThe state has made no promises that Ms Pike will not be subject to a future execution, and the evidence that we are seeking to preserve now is relevant for any future challenge that she makes, because as we pled in January, the same thing is likely to happen,\u201d Luke Ihnen said.<\/p>\n Assistant attorney general John W Ayers pushed back against Pike\u2019s lawyers\u2019 claims that their access to Pike is being limited by the Tennessee corrections department (TDOC). He said: \u201cTDOC does not intend to obstruct access to counsel. That\u2019s why there\u2019s been a process set up to request visitation to facilitate that.\u201d<\/p>\n In response, Myles said that \u201ccounsel are expected to follow all visitation policies that are in place at the respective hospital.\u201d She added: \u201cThis court will not run afoul of whatever the facility has already in place,\u201d saying that \u201cthere is a two-hour response on whether or not visitation will be allowed\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.33 EDT<\/p>\n Explaining the steps ahead, Christa Pike\u2019s lawyer said: \u201cUntil yesterday, Ms. Pike was unable to to speak. She was unconscious. She was not able to to authorize us to file any any sort of new lawsuits.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd so the motion that we filed is is just to preserve evidence. It\u2019s it\u2019s the very very first step of of what will be a long legal battle, we presume,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Christa Pike\u2019s lawyer continued to describe her physical appearance following the botched execution attempt, saying: \u201cI will say that like the swelling is what I noticed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHer hands looked like if you were to blow up a surgical [glove],\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Pike’s lawyer says she is ‘angry and confused about everything right now’<\/p>\n Christa Pike\u2019s lawyer Randy Spivey added that she was \u201cat peace\u201d last Wednesday, adding: \u201cShe helped the execution team find what they thought was venous access. She was kind and polite as they worked for an hour, stabbing her arm with needle after needle, and then she felt the burn of the pentobarbital.\u201d<\/p>\n Spivey added: \u201cOur understanding was the first thing she said was \u2018Where am I and who are you?\u2019 There\u2019s still a lot of cognitive confusion, and so I will say that she has wanted to know what\u2019s happened, and she\u2019s asked about several people. She\u2019s asked about her team. She\u2019s asked about the victim\u2019s family \u2026 I think she is angry and confused about everything right now.<\/p>\n \u201cShe is very aware that the state tried to execute her,\u201d Spivey continued.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.07 EDT<\/p>\n Christa Pike has not yet eaten and can’t move her arms, lawyer says<\/p>\n Christa Pike\u2019s lawyers are providing more details on the state Pike has been in following the botched execution attempt.<\/p>\n \u201cOn Monday night, it was our understanding that Christa was brain dead, and that life support would be removed the next day. But on Tuesday, to the shock of everyone, including me, including her team, and including the medical team, Christa woke up and began talking,\u201d her lawyer Randy Spivey said.<\/p>\n \u201cChrista has a long road to recovery. She has a blood clot in one of her arms. She has pneumonia. She is not able to swallow yet, so she is not eaten. She cannot move either of her arms. Both of her arms and hands are tremendously swollen, and we do not know what, if any, function she will regain in her arms. But we do know that there\u2019s a long road ahead, and that is just the physical toll that all of this is taking,\u201d Spivey added.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.08 EDT<\/p>\n Christa Pike lawyers hold press conference<\/p>\n Christa Pike\u2019s lawyers are now holding a press conference following a court hearing at the Davidson county chancery court in Nashville, Tennessee.<\/p>\n \u201cToday\u2019s hearing was about transparency, about why Christa, the courts, the media, and the public should not simply take the state\u2019s word about what happened last Wednesday, because as we saw a little bit today, their word is shrouded in secrecy, in legal jargons, in attempts to obfuscate and obscure what really happened,\u201d Pike\u2019s lawyer Luke Ihnen said.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.01 EDT<\/p>\n Judge I\u2019Ashea Myles has also said that \u201ccounsel are expected to follow all visitation policies that are in place at the respective hospital\u201d.<\/p>\n She added: \u201cThis court will not run afoul of whatever the facility has already in place,\u201d saying that \u201cthere is a two-hour response on whether or not visitation will be allowed\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIf an incarcerated individual is allowed visitation once a day from counsel, the court does not expect TDOC to deviate from that simply because the petitioner is in a hospital facility versus a prison facility,\u201d Myles added.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a013.55 EDT<\/p>\n Judge grants motion to preserve evidence from execution day<\/p>\n The judge says she is granting the motion to preserve all relevant evidence after telling the court: \u201cThis case is unique to say the least.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019Ashea Myles goes through a list of things Tennessee<\/a> officials must preserve. It includes all drugs, IV lines and tubing that are in the state\u2019s possession \u2013 \u201canything that was in the actual room\u201d must be preserved and \u201cthat includes trash\u201d.<\/p>\n Myles adds that anything that relates to the drug or supplies used must be preserved, as well as photographs, videos, audio recording, surveillance footage and anything in the witness rooms.<\/p>\n She also wants all communications, whether encrypted or not, to be preserved, stressing that this includes \u201canything concerning deviation from protocol or delays or equipment issues\u201d.<\/p>\n She also warns: \u201cTake special care not to lose, misplace, accidentally delete any information pertinent to this litigation.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a013.45 EDT<\/p>\n Tennessee attorney rejects claims Pike’s access to lawyers was being limited<\/p>\n Assistant attorney general John W Ayers also pushed back against Christa Pike\u2019s lawyers\u2019 claims that their access to Pike is being limited by the Tennessee corrections department (TDOC).<\/p>\n He said: \u201cTDOC does not intend to obstruct access to counsel. That\u2019s why there\u2019s been a process set up to request visitation to facilitate that. Now, these requests that were just layered on today go above and beyond what the conditions were before.\u201d<\/p>\n Ayers said that Pike \u201cnever had unfettered access to a phone\u201d, explaining that phone calls were arranged in advance but that Pike did have \u201cunfettered access to a tablet\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cAgain, access to counsel is being facilitated. TDOC is not taking the position that counsel be should be excluded,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a013.24 EDT<\/p>\n Evidence collected on 30 September by prison staff following the botched execution attempt on Christa Pike<\/a> include observation logs, medical waste and products, as well as EKG readouts, assistant attorney general John W Ayers said.<\/p>\n He added that some evidence may not be in prison officials\u2019 possession, saying: \u201cIt\u2019s my understanding that the IV lines were cut, and so there may be portions of those IV lines that could have been still attached to Ms Pike when she was transported to the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Christa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791399614_56_1920.jpg\")
Christa Pike awake and speaking after botched execution: what happens now? – The LatestShare<\/a>Summary<\/p>\n