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Christa Pike was "angry and confused" after waking up in hospital

Adam Tamburin

Portrait of a woman with long, curly dark hair and a neutral expression, wearing a white top, posed against a gray cinder-block wall. — Christa Pike in 2002. Photo: courtesy of Pike's legal team

Christa Pike was "angry and confused" when she woke up in a hospital six days after Tennessee attempted to execute her, her attorneys said Wednesday.

What they're saying: Attorney Randy Spivey told reporters that Pike's team initially believed she was "brain dead" on Monday night and that she would soon be taken off life support.

Instead, she awoke and started talking on Tuesday in a development that shocked her lawyers and doctors.

"I do not have an explanation for what happened between Monday night and Tuesday morning," Spivey said. "What we do know is that Christa has a long road to recovery."

Catch up quick: Pike, 50, was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer. She survived after the state administered two doses of the lethal injection drug pentobarbital last week.

Zoom in: Pike could not move her arms or swallow on Wednesday, Spivey said. He added that she had pneumonia, a blood clot in one arm and severe swelling in both arms and hands.

Pike was aware of the execution attempt after she woke up, Spivey said. She asked where she was and what had happened, in addition to asking questions about her legal team and Slemmer's family.
But her lawyers acknowledged "cognitive confusion."
"Neither we nor Christa have even begun to process what this means for her mental health," Spivey said.

The latest: A judge ordered the state on Wednesday to preserve evidence from the Sept. 30 execution attempt as Pike's lawyers consider future legal challenges.

What's next: Pike's attorneys renewed their call for Gov. Bill Lee to commute her sentence to life in prison without parole.

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Christa Pike was "angry and confused" after waking up in hospital

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