Christa Pike returned to prison after discharge from hospital
Mike Snider and Amanda Lee Myers, USA TODAYSat, October 10, 2026 at 3:38 PM UTC
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Christa Pike, who was supposed to be put to death Sept. 30 for a 1995 murder, was discharged from a hospital after having survived a botched execution.
Christa Pike, who was supposed to be put to death Sept. 30 for a 1995 murder, has been released from the hospital after having survived a botched execution.
Pike is now getting medical care in prison, her attorneys said in a statement Saturday.
"Christa Pike was discharged from a local hospital and is now at Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center where she has been housed for more than 30 years," her legal team said. "She is grateful to the first responders and her medical team for their care in these extraordinary circumstances. She is continuing to receive medical care at the prison, and we will continue to track her recovery."
Tennessee attempted to execute Pike, 50, by lethal injection on Sept. 30 for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. But Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital injections and was taken to a Nashville area hospital.
'Uncharted territory': Will Tennessee try to kill Christa Pike again?
A timeline of the chaos in the death chamber compiled by USA TODAY shows that the state tried to kill Pike for more than an hour before rushing to save her.
Pike appears to be the first person known to have survived after execution drugs entered her body, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said he had ordered an investigation into what went wrong and has postponed the state's one remaining execution scheduled for this year, that of convicted killer Gary Wayne Sutton on Dec. 3.
Christa Pike's condition improves
For days after the botched execution, Pike was unconscious, intubated on a ventilator and considered brain dead. She had suffered "severe damage" to her arms and "her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery," her attorneys said Oct. 6.
But her health improved and Pike started eating again, began walking with some assistance, and her badly damaged arms were regaining movement, they said on Oct. 8.
Pike's attorneys remain concerned about psychological damage and lasting impacts to her cognitive functioning.
Contributing: Jennifer Brett and Evan Mealins of the Nashville Tennessean
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Christa Pike returned to prison after discharge from hospital
Source: Crime