‘She is angry’: Lawyers say Christa Pike is aware state tried to execute her

Christa Pike is “up and walking” in hospital a week after surviving a botched execution in Tennessee and is “very aware” of what happened, her legal team has said, the New York Post reported.

Pike, 50, survived two lethal injections administered by the Tennessee Department of Corrections on Sept. 30. She was due to be the first woman executed in the state in over 200 years and instead became the first prisoner in the US to survive a lethal injection.

Her lawyer, Stephen Ferrell, told the BBC: “She is up and walking for the first time today, but just around the room, not very far.”

He described her mental state as “good and bad” and said it is unclear whether she suffered permanent brain damage. Her arms are badly injured, he added.

Another attorney, Randall Spivey, said: “She is angry and confused about everything right now. She is very aware that the state tried to execute her.”

On Wednesday, a judge ordered Tennessee officials to preserve syringes and other evidence.

Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer.