Christa Pike is suffering “cognitive challenges” and “profound psychological trauma” after her bungled execution, her lawyers revealed.
The 50-year-old death row inmate regained consciousness on Tuesday after surviving two botched attempts to put her to death using lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on Sept. 30.
“While her physical recovery has been remarkable, significant questions remain about the long-term effects of what she endured,” her lawyers said in a statement.
“Christa is dealing with the profound psychological trauma of having survived a failed execution, including the terror, pain and uncertainty of believing she was about to die.”
“Christa also continues to experience cognitive challenges with concentration and memory,” the attorneys added.
Pike was sentenced to death for the brutal murder of her 19-year-old Job Corps classmate, Colleen Slemmer, in Jan. 1995, when she was 18.
