Pike survived two lethal injections of the drug pentobarbital, which left her in critical condition. Earlier this week, she regained consciousness and began speaking, stunning experts, medical staff and her lawyers.
“She is grateful to the first responders and her medical team for their care in these extraordinary circumstances,” her lawyers said in a statement.
Pike's case is now in uncharted territory. She is believed to be the only person to have survived an execution attempt by lethal injection.
At a court hearing on Wednesday, Tennessee Assistant Attorney General Will Ayers told the judge he does not know whether the state intends to try to execute her again. The judge also ordered the state to preserve all evidence related to the failed injections, evidence that could lay the groundwork for a future lawsuit against Tennessee.
Pike was 18 when she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, beat, tortured and killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, whom they had met at a job training camp for low-income young people. Pike has been on death row for more than three decades.