WASHINGTON, Oct 8 — A convicted US killer who survived a botched execution was almost taken off life support before she regained consciousness, her lawyer said Wednesday, as a court ordered prison authorities to preserve evidence in the case.
Christa Pike, 50, who was sentenced to death for a murder she committed when she was a teenager, received two supposedly lethal doses of the drug pentobarbital at a Tennessee prison last Wednesday.
She survived the injections, however, and was rushed to a hospital where she was in critical condition for several days, unconscious and on a ventilator.
“On Monday night, it was our understanding that Christa was brain dead, and that life support would be removed the next day,” her lawyer Randy Spivey told reporters.
