:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2):format(webp)/christa-pike-0100126-9e934e760b5541e3980a237c21ecc530.jpg)
Eight days after surviving two lethal doses of the drug pentobarbital, Christa Pike is continuing to recover in an undisclosed hospital in Nashville.
Her physical recovery after surviving the execution attempt has seemingly been nothing short of a miracle, but in a statement released to PEOPLE on Thursday, Oct. 8, her attorneys warned that Pike is also grappling with several other issues.
The four-person legal team representing Pike writes in that statement that there are still “significant questions” about the possible “long-term effects” of her botched execution on Sept. 30.
“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,” the statement reads. “We cannot yet know the full emotional and psychological toll of that experience or how long it will take her to begin to heal.”
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(999x0:1001x2):format(webp)/christa-pike-092526-d0b0aac5324040a7bfd2a77432d3a8cb.jpg)
Pike also “continues to express concern for others, particularly the family of her victim Colleen Slemmer,” according to her attorneys.
May Martinez, Slemmer’s mother, would dispute that claim, having previously told PEOPLE that Pike has never once offered her an apology for murdering her 19-year-old daughter in 1995.
Martinez said after the botched attempt that she doesn’t understand how so many things could go wrong. While many have since rallied behind Pike, Martinez said that she still wants to see her daughter’s killer ᴅᴇᴀᴅ.
“She has no remorse. She’s never had any remorse in 31 years,” she said.
Pike’s attorneys’ statement outlines some of the progress Pike has made in terms of her physical recovery.
They reveal that she is now “walking with some ᴀssistance,” her arms are “healing and regaining movement and strength, “her lungs are clear” and that after waking up and finding herself unable to swallow, “she has started to eat a regular diet.”
Pike, 50, was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of Slemmer, who was her classmate at the time.
After spending days unconscious in a Nashville hospital, she began speaking on Tuesday, Oct. 6, despite her attorneys having been told the previous day that she was brain ᴅᴇᴀᴅ and would be removed from life support, PEOPLE previously reported.
Pike’s attorneys previously revealed that she was also battling pneumonia, suffering from a blood clot in one arm and had significant swelling in both arms and hands. They allege that problems inserting IV lines during the execution may have caused the lethal injection drug to leak into surrounding tissue, severely injuring her arms.
On Wednesday, Oct. 7, a Tennessee judge ordered state officials to preserve evidence from the failed execution, including needles, IV lines, drugs, surveillance footage and communications.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(776x436:778x438):format(webp)/Christa-Pike-092826-tout-5a17ca29167645b7bfb002d8ed7f86aa.jpg)
During that hearing, one of her attorneys, Luke Ihnen, told the court that Pike remained handcuffed and shackled to her hospital bed despite objections from medical staff. The judge requested additional medical evidence before ruling on whether the restraints should be removed.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has ordered an independent review of the failed execution and paused the state’s remaining executions for 2026.
Pike’s death sentence remains in effect, although it is unclear whether Tennessee will attempt to execute her again.