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These could be Christa Pike's chilling final words alive
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Christa Pike may already have uttered her final words, moments before surviving two execution attempts on Wednesday (September 30).
The death row inmate was going to become the first woman in over 200 years to be executed in Tennessee before prison staff botched two attempts at administering the lethal injection.
Pike was rushed to the hospital after the execution lasted over an hour, despite the inmate being granted a stay of execution just minutes before original scheduled execution time.
The Supreme Court ultimately ruled that the killing could go ahead.
Now, Pike's attorneys say she is being treated in a hospital, with a spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Corrections confirming last week that she was ’transported to an off-site medical facility’.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has additionally suspended all remaining scheduled executions this year, ordering a 'comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred'.
Christa Pike's potential final words
With the 50-year-old's health in question as she is treated for life-threatening injuries, she may have already said her last words.
Pike's lawyers had previously described the condition of her arms following the injection, saying they were "swollen, burned, and blistered" after the pentobarbital was administered.
After the prison team had struggled to establish an IV line for over an hour, she survived both doses of the lethal injection.
Before this, FOX 5 reported that the curtains to the execution chamber opened at 7.27 PM, when Pike was strapped to a gurney with an IV line in her arm.
Pike then delivered her last words, saying: "I just want to say that I'm going to leave this world the way I spent most of my life, and that is with love."
She added that she loved those who were angry with her just as much as she loved the people on her side, concluding: "I'm at peace, and I'm ready to go," before singing 'I Love You So Much' as a male spiritual advisor patted her head.
It was reported that after both syringes were administered, she had 'not lost consciousness and still has a heartbeat,' and was 'audibly snoring'.
Pike's legal team provide update on her health
According to a court filing from Pike's legal team, problems with the IV lines meant the pentobarbital was delivered into her body rather than properly entering her bloodstream.
Pike has remained unconscious and dependent on a ventilator while doctors treat her following the failed execution.
Stephen Ferrell, a legal representative of Pike, provided an update during an appearance on CNN's State of the Union.
"It remains the same. She's still in the hospital on a ventilator, critically ill," he admitted.
He further warned: "We don't really know the prognosis yet, and may not know for several days."
When asked if Pike had regained consciousness since the attempted execution, Ferrell admitted: "Not that I am aware of."
"We don't know what the prognosis is, as in the long-term prognosis... she may not fully recover," Ferrell said to the media.
"We just don't know any of this. We have had no discussions about this [what happens next]. The Tennessee attorney general's office, so far, has not given us any indications of what their intentions will be."
Ferrell claimed that Pike's death sentence should be changed to life in prison, arguing that the failed execution has caused her significant suffering.
"At the very least, the governor should commute Ms Pike's death sentence to a life sentence," he claimed.
"We don't know what her physical state will be, but it's clear that she has endured a tortuous attempt at executing her, and we had already asked that the governor commute her for many good reasons."