US death row inmate regains consciousness despite being executed twice by being administered poison

(Washington = Yonhap News) Correspondent Park Seong-min = An American female death row inmate who survived after receiving two doses of execution poison regained consciousness on the 6th (local time), one week after her execution.

According to the Associated Press, Christa Pike (50), who survived execution by lethal injection at a prison in Nashville, Tennessee on the 30th of last month and was transported to the hospital, regained consciousness and was able to speak today, her lawyers said in a statement.

Defense attorneys said Pike remains in critical condition and is handcuffed and shackled to the bed despite serious injuries to both arms.

He added that Pike's recovery was "medically unprecedented. The prognosis is uncertain, but at the very least, we anticipate a long recovery." He added, "We are grateful to the paramedics and hospital for treating Christa like a human being and providing excellent care."

A Tennessee Department of Corrections spokeswoman said she could not provide any information other than that Pike is currently hospitalized.

Pike was sentenced to death for murdering 19-year-old Colin Slemmer with her boyfriend in 1995 when she was 18, and served 30 years in prison before being executed this time.

After Pike survived, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee ordered a comprehensive third-party investigation into the situation and said he would put on hold any additional executions scheduled for this year.

State Department of Corrections Director Frank Strada, the person responsible for executing the death penalty, also announced his resignation.

Meanwhile, the poison Pike was administered was pentobarbital, which was officially adopted as a drug for federal executions during the first Trump administration.

Afterwards, the Joe Biden administration completely suspended executions at the federal level, and in January 2025, just before President Trump took office for his second term, it abolished executions using this drug, saying it could cause unnecessary pain and suffering to death row inmates.

However, the second Trump administration reauthorized the use of the drug in federal executions in April.