Christa Pike faces lengthy recovery after botched execution attempt — lawyers

NEW YORK, October 7. /TASS/. Christa Pike, who survived a botched execution attempt in the US state of Tennessee, faces a lengthy recovery, her lawyers said after their client regained consciousness.

"Her prognosis remains unclear, <…> she faces a long recovery," Pike’s lawyers said in a statement cited by Associated Press.

They described what happened to Pike as "medically unprecedented" and noted that "despite the severe damage she endured to her arms, she is still handcuffed and shackled to the bed."

On September 30, Pike was scheduled to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in over 200 years on Wednesday. However, she was rushed to a hospital following two failed attempts to administer the drugs.

Christa Pike was 18 years old at the time of the crime in 1995. She and her accomplice were convicted of the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, who attended the same educational institution as Pike. According to the prosecution, Pike feared Slemmer was pursuing her boyfriend, lured her to a secluded area, where she and her accomplice tortured and killed her. The case drew widespread attention due to the brutality of the murder, the age of the participants, and the fact that a satanic symbol was carved into the victim’s body.