Christa Pike's attorneys say the turnaround in her health this week has been "remarkable" but that she is concerned about how her murder victim's family is doing and is struggling with the psychological aftermath of having survived a botched execution.
In a health update shared on Oct. 8, Pike's attorneys say that she is walking with some assistance, her badly damaged arms are regaining movement and she has started eating again.
The update comes just four days after Pike's attorneys said that she was considered brain dead.
"The turnaround in Christa Pike’s health in the last three days has been profound and a credit to the medical team caring for her," they said. "Physicians are encouraged by her physical recovery."
Still, they said that significant
questions remain about the long-term effects of surviving two doses of pentobarbital after her botched execution in Tennessee on Sept. 30. Pike was supposed to be put to death for the brutal murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995.
"Christa is dealing with the profound psychological trauma of having survived a failed execution, including the terror, pain and uncertainty of believing she was about to die," her attorneys said. "We cannot yet know the full emotional and psychological toll of that experience or how long it will take her to begin to heal. Even as she struggles to process what has happened, she continues to express concern for others, particularly the family of her victim Colleen Slemmer."
Slemmer's mother, May Martinez, was among the witnesses to the botched execution. She has said that Pike's death would help deliver justice for her daughter's murder and that she wanted to witness it after waiting for more than 30 years. She has also said that Pike never apologized to her for the murder.
In their update on Thursday, Pike's attorneys say that she is experiencing cognitive challenges with concentration and memory and that her doctors have said it make take months to know whether those deficiencies will be long-term or for life.
They continued to call on Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to commute Pike's death sentence to life in prison.
"Christa has endured more than enough," they said. "She should never be subjected to another execution attempt."
So far, Lee has not responded to repeated calls from Pike's attorneys and death penalty observers to commute her sentence to life in prison. That leaves open the possibility that Pike could face a second execution one day.
While speaking with reporters on Oct. 1, Lee called Pike's botched execution a deeply disturbing "tragedy" that should never have happened. He also reiterated his commitment to the death penalty.
"My responsibility is to uphold the sentences that Tennessee juries have handed down, even when it's difficult, and that is exactly what we intend to do in the days ahead," Lee said. "The people of Tennessee have determined that the death penalty is the appropriate penalty for the most heinous crimes in the state. The people of Tennessee make that decision, and my job is to make sure then that those sentences are carried out."
Lee has ordered an investigation into what happened to Pike, called off the state's only remaining execution this year and announced the upcoming resignation of Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada.
Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime and courts reporter who covers the death penalty, cold case investigations and breaking news for USA TODAY. Follow her on X at @amandaleeusat
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Christa Pike walking and eating again after botched Tennessee execution
