Lawyers call Pike’s recovery ‘medically unprecedented’
Christa Pike’s lawyers are holding a press conference Wednesday at 12 p.m. ET and asking a court the same day to order the Tennessee Department of Correction to preserve “all relevant physical, written and electronic evidence” related to last week’s botched execution, according to The Guardian.
Pike, the 50-year-old death row inmate, remains in critical care at a hospital where she is “handcuffed and shackled to the bed,” her lawyers said in a statement reported Tuesday night, announcing that their client is “conscious and speaking” following the procedure. “Her recovery is medically unprecedented,” the legal team said. “Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery.”
An anaesthesiologist advising Pike’s team told the BBC that Pike is able to communicate in a “basic way” but did not seem to remember last Wednesday’s execution attempt.
In court documents filed ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, the lawyers are asking a judge to require the corrections department to retain evidence from the failed execution. The press conference and the court hearing are both scheduled for Wednesday. The Guardian reported that it was providing live updates from the press conference.