CHRISTA PIKE DISCHARGED FROM HOSPITAL AND RETURNED TO PRISON

NASHVILLE, OCTOBER 10 /SRNA/ – Christa Pike, who was convicted of murdering her schoolmate more than three decades ago, has been discharged from hospital following a botched execution late last month at a prison in Tennessee, her lawyers said.

Her lawyers announced today that Pike, 50, had been returned to the prison where she has spent the past 30 years.

She keeps receiving medical care in prison, the BBC reports.

Pike survived two lethal injections of the drug pentobarbital on September 30, which left her in critical condition in hospital.

Earlier this week, she regained consciousness and began speaking, astonishing experts, medical staff and her lawyers.

She is believed to be the only person to have survived an attempted execution by lethal injection.

At a court hearing earlier this week, Tennessee Assistant Attorney General Will Ayers told the judge that he did not know whether the state intended to reschedule her execution.

The judge also ordered the state of Tennessee to preserve all evidence related to the failed execution. That evidence could lay the groundwork for a future lawsuit against the state.

Pike was 18 when she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaril Shipp, beat, tortured and killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, whom they had met at a boot camp for young people from low-income backgrounds.