Unclear if Pike will be executed again: "No one knows"

Convicted murderer Pike has undergone a "medically unique" recovery after receiving two fatal doses of the drug pentobarbital, according to media reports. Against all odds, she is conscious and receiving continued medical care. What happens now is unclear.

"Her prognosis remains uncertain, but at least we expect a long recovery," her lawyers said Tuesday, according to USA Today.

The lawyers have called for Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to commute the sentence to life in prison, arguing that the first execution attempt on Sept. 30 constituted unconstitutional, cruel and unusual punishment.

Experts on the death penalty state that they are now on uncharted legal ground.

- The US Supreme Court has not ruled on whether a second execution attempt would violate the constitution since 1947, says Robin Maher, director of the non-profit organization Death Penalty Information Center, to USA Today.

Then the failed attempt was an accident and the man was executed on a second attempt. But that case is very different from Pikes. Before the poison injection, medical experts warned that the woman convicted of murder had a blood disorder that could lead to the condition "IV infiltration", where fluid leaks into the surrounding tissue instead of staying in the vein.

Even so, requests for alternative methods of execution were rejected by both state and federal courts, as well as by the United States Supreme Court. A new execution could thus run counter to the constitution's ban on double trials, according to legal experts.

An independent investigation into the events is now underway, appointed by Tennessee's governor, who has yet to provide answers regarding what will happen to Christa Pike.

According to the lawyers, for the time being she is handcuffed and chained to the bed in the hospital, with severe injuries to her arms after the poison injections, reports The Washington Post.

Pike was convicted of the murder of a fellow student, which was carried out in 1995 when she was 18 years old. The case attracted a lot of attention in the United States because of the brutality, the age of those involved and the occult details.