Christa Pike Is Conscious and Speaking After Botched Execution -- WSJ

By Ginger Adams Otis Tennessee inmate Christa Pike, who survived the state's attempt to execute her by lethal injection, is conscious and speaking at the hospital where she's being treated, her attorneys said Tuesday. Pike's prognosis is still unclear and her recovery will be a long one, the attorneys said. The 50-year-old is handcuffed and shackled to the bed, the attorneys said. "We are incredibly grateful to the first responders and the medical team at the hospital who treated Christa like a human and have provided exceptional care to her," the attorneys' statement said. Her condition had been largely unknown since an ambulance took her to the hospital from a Nashville prison following the botched execution attempt last week. Pike, who was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of Colleen Slemmer, got two doses of pentobarbital, a sedative that at least 17 states use for capital punishment. Officials had to call Pike's procedure off and send her to a hospital because she was still alive after the injections. The Tennessee Department of Correction said they followed established protocol and that the drug has consistently been effective. The department declined to answer