Christa Pike’s lawyer reveals her first words on waking up from botched execution

Christa Pike’s lawyers have revealed the Tennessee death row inmate’s first words after waking up from her botched execution.

Pike, 50, was set to be put to death last Wednesday, but she survived two lethal injections at Riverbend maximum security prison in Nashville. She was then taken to a hospital and placed on a ventilator.

Her lawyers said at a press conference outside of court Wednesday that she appeared to be brain dead Monday and would be taken off life support the next day.

“But on Tuesday, to the shock of everyone, including me, including her team, and including the medical team, Christa woke up and began talking,” one of her lawyers, Randy Spivey, said.

When asked what Pike said when she woke up, Spivey said, “Our understanding was the first thing she said was, ‘Where am I and who are you?’”

Spivey said that while Pike is experiencing “a lot of cognitive confusion,” he said she is “very aware that the state tried to execute her.”

He described Pike’s emotions right now as “angry and confused.”

Pike was sentenced to death after the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Pike was just 18 when she and her boyfriend tortured and killed their classmate Slemmer, who prosecutors said Pike feared was a romantic rival.

Supporters of Christa believe the death penalty is an unfair punishment given her age and the mental state she was in after years of sexual abuse.

“Christa is a survivor. She survived child sexual abuse. She survived rapes of multiple men. She survived a suicide attempt when she was 12, and she survived the state’s attempt to execute her,” Spivey said. “She deserves answers about what was done to her, and the people of Tennessee deserve those answers too.”

Her lawyers were in court Wednesday over a motion for the state to preserve evidence in relation to the botched execution, which was granted.

This is a developing story…