Christa Pike has made strides in her recovery in the weeks since her botched execution, and is now said to be walking and even speaking in full sentences.
asserted
Pike → make → sentences
The 50-year-old received two doses of pentobarbital on September 30 as Tennessee state officials tried to execute her for the 1995 stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer, but was still breathing in the aftermath.
She was then rushed to a local hospital, where she was unconscious and on a ventilator, with severe burns on her arms.
asserted
she → receive → arms
Pike has since been discharged and was sent back to the women's prison where she was housed for 30 years, where her lawyers say she has improved physically.
asserted
she → discharge → years
She is now able to walk more on her own, her attorney told TMZ.
asserted
attorney → walk → TMZ
Her speech has also improved, he added, and she is now able to communicate more clearly and form full sentences.
asserted
she → improve → sentences
Yet the full effects of the botched execution remain unclear, as doctors continue to monitor her cognitive and psychological functioning.
uncertain
doctors → botch → functioning
It may now take another month before the long-term effects of the failed execution are realized, the lawyer said.
uncertain
lawyer → take → execution
Christa Pike, 50, was hospitalized after surviving two doses of pentobarbital as the state tried to execute her for the 1995 stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer
Emergency responders were seen rushing to Riverbend Maximum Security Institution following the botched execution on September 30
Pike was just 18 years old when she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, beat and killed 19-year-old Slemmer at a job training camp.
asserted
she → hospitalize → camp
Prosecutors said Pike, fearing Slemmer was trying to steal her boyfriend, lured her to a wooded area, cut her with a box cutter and beat her with a large chunk of asphalt.
asserted
Slemmer → say → asphalt
Shipp then carved a pentagram into the victim's body.
asserted
Shipp → carve → body
He was 17 when the crime happened and received a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole.
asserted
crime → happen → parole
Pike was the only one sentenced to death.
asserted
Pike → sentence → death
She was then injected by at least seven needles as medical staff attempted to give her two lethal doses of pentobarbital on the night of September 30, her lawyers have previously claimed in court documents.
'At one point, Ms Pike herself offered guidance on where the IV team could attempt access; one needle was bent at a 90-degree angle when it was removed,' they wrote.
uncertain
they → inject → angle
When she was then administered two sets of syringes of the lethal drug she could be heard crying, whimpering and breathing loudly throughout the process, the lawyers said.
uncertain
lawyers → administer → process
During the procedure, she reportedly said: 'my arm feels like it's about to burst open,' and at another point, asked, 'does this happen like that?'
uncertain
this → say → that
When she later arrived at the hospital, both of her arms were swollen, burned and blistered from the drug, which the lawyers compared to bleach or Drano, the chemical used to clear clogged household drains and pipes.
asserted
lawyers → arrive → drains
Pike was sentenced to death for the fatal stabbing of her classmate.
asserted
Pike → sentence → classmate
She is pictured above receiving her sentence in 1996
The killer had been on death row for 30 years since she was convicted of the 1995 murder of her Knoxville Jobs Corp classmate Colleen Slemmer
Pike was assisted by her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp (left), and their classmate Shadolla Peterson (right) in Slemmer's beating and murder
Pike's attorneys said they believed problems with the IV lines caused the pentobarbital to flow into her body instead of her bloodstream.
asserted
pentobarbital → picture → body
'Apparently at no point did any member of the execution team realize that the IV lines were not correctly placed or that the veins had blown and that the pentobarbital was, in whole or in part, entering Ms Pike's body,' the lawyers wrote in the court filing.
asserted
lawyers → realize → filing
They wrote that, instead of 'remedying this failure,' they prepared and administered a backup set of pentobarbital syringes.
asserted
they → write → syringes
A Tennessee judge has since ordered the state to preserve all evidence from her failed execution.
asserted
judge → order → execution
Assistant Attorney General John Ayers did not object to the request, noting there is no pending execution order for Pike and insisting that the Department of Correction has already preserved the evidence from her attempted execution.
asserted
Department → object → execution
He added that log books, observation logs, medical waste and products, and electrocardiogram readouts have been saved.
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books → add → ?
It has since been revealed that local and state police were left confused and incredulous after prison officials first reported that Pike survived her execution attempt – with one dispatcher even believing it was a false report.
asserted
it → reveal → attempt
Pike (pictured in 2007) has been discharged from the hospital and is back in prison and is now able to walk and speak more clearly in complete sentences
Police dispatch audio transcripts from the night of the failed execution show that the first 911 call came in at 8.40pm, just one hour after the attempted lethal injection got underway.
'
asserted
injection → picture → 8.40pm
We've been carrying out an execution tonight.
asserted
We → carry → execution
We've administered 10 grams of pentobarbital.
asserted
We → administer → pentobarbital
The person is not yet deceased,' the caller said as he asked for an ambulance.
asserted
he → say → ambulance
The dispatcher then replied by asking the caller for a verification code for agencies to confirm to one another that a call is not a false report, which the caller did not have.
asserted
caller → reply → which
At that point, the dispatcher called the Tennessee Department of Correction Central Control at 8.59 to verify the call's authenticity.
asserted
dispatcher → call → authenticity
'We are trying to find out if that is an actual thing that is happening and we need to send an ambulance,' or 'if this is someone that is basically prank-calling,' she said.
asserted
she → try → ambulance
The dispatcher was then told that nobody from that office had called police about a botched execution, and at 9.03pm the dispatcher concluded, 'We have been informed it is a false call' and 'there is no medical assistance needed at Riverbend Prison.
asserted
it → tell → Prison
But at 9.06pm, 26 minutes after the first call, the Department of Correction finally called back with a code.
asserted
Department → call → code
Still, the news did not reach the gate at the prison as a first responder reported: 'Somebody is outside the gate at the prison telling us that it's real and demanding us to go in.
asserted
us → reach → us
They say they are some sort of state official.
asserted
they → say → official
I need somebody to get out to the gate and talk to those people.'
asserted
I → need → people
Finally, at 9.11pm, a police dispatcher called the Tennessee Highway Patrol asking the department to send a trooper to the prison so that emergency vehicles could get through the prison gates.
uncertain
vehicles → call → gates
It now remains unclear how state officials will proceed with her case.
uncertain
officials → remain → case
Pike's attorneys have argued she has suffered enough and want the governor to commute her sentence.
asserted
governor → argue → sentence
The Aporia
