Christa Pike speaks in full sentences following botched Tennessee execution

Convicted murderer Christa Pike is speaking in full sentences and her mobility is improving following a failed execution attempt in Tennessee, her lawyers said on Wednesday. The New York Post and the Daily Express both reported that the 50-year-old prisoner's speech has significantly improved. One of her attorneys told TMZ that she is able to walk better without assistance, according to the New York Post. [1][2]

Medical staff continue to monitor her cognitive and psychological functioning, the New York Post and the Daily Express both report. Doctors are still working to evaluate the extent of any long-term cognitive or psychological damage caused by the botched procedure, according to the Daily Express. [1][2]

Pike survived two doses of the lethal injection drug pentobarbital on September 30, as FTMQ News reported earlier. As FTMQ News also previously reported, Pike was discharged from the hospital on a Saturday and returned to the prison facility where she has been held for over 30 years. [10][11]

Pike was convicted at a trial in March 1996 for the 1995 murder of her 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville, Tennessee. Pike lured Slemmer into a wooded area, where Slemmer was tortured, beaten, slashed, and killed. [8][9]

Sentenced to death at the age of 20, Pike became one of the youngest women to receive a death sentence in the United States. According to the New York Post, Pike was set to become the first woman executed by Tennessee in 200 years, but instead became the first prisoner ever to survive a lethal injection. [1][8][9]