Christa Pike is conscious and speaking days after Tennessee’s failed attempt to carry out her death sentence, according to her attorneys.

Pike, 50, remains hospitalized in intensive care following the September 30 execution attempt. Her legal team said Tuesday that she is now awake and able to speak, marking a significant improvement from the days immediately after the incident, when she was unconscious and dependent on a ventilator.

Her attorneys said Pike continues to require critical medical care and that her prognosis remains unclear. They expect her recovery to be lengthy. A medical expert who has consulted with her legal team said her ability to breathe without a ventilator and speak is encouraging, but cautioned that it may take weeks or months to understand the full extent of her recovery.

Pike was sentenced to d#ath for her role in the 1995 k#lling of her 19-year-old classmate, Colleen Slemmer. Tennessee attempted to carry out the sentence at Riverbend Maximum Security Insтιтution in Nashville on September 30, but the attempt was halted after medical complications.

Her attorneys are now turning their attention to the legal questions surrounding what happened. They are seeking a court order requiring the Tennessee Department of Correction to preserve records and other evidence from the failed execution, including information about the drugs used and medical documentation. A court hearing was scheduled for Wednesday.

The development also adds a new layer to Pike’s legal future. Her attorneys have indicated that they intend to pursue further legal action, including seeking to have her d#ath sentence changed to life imprisonment without parole.

For now, Pike remains in intensive care, and doctors cannot yet say what her long-term recovery will look like.

What began as an execution attempt has now become an ongoing medical and legal battle, with major questions still surrounding Pike’s condition and what happened inside Tennessee’s execution chamber.

Source: AP, Reuters, CBS News, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post