Three possible outcomes for what will happen next as Christa Pike 'alive and talking' after botched execution
After 30 years on death row, when Christa Pike's sentence of execution was carried out, she survived, leaving what comes next for the convicted killer uncertain.
Pike had been sentenced to death by lethal injection for the murder of Colleen Slemmer, with the original sentence passed when she was still a teenager being to the electric chair.
When Pike's execution was attempted after decades of legal wrangling and appeals it was using the lethal injection, but despite receiving two doses of pentobarbital Pike is still alive and, in a surreal development given her intended fate, receiving treatment in hospital.
There she is reportedly now able to speak and to walk again, though in an inhibited manner.
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Tennessee governor Bill Lee, who denied Pike's plea for mercy, has now paused death sentences in the state after Pike's became the second botched execution in the state in a year.
While Lee has ordered an investigation into state executions in Tennessee, the question now looms of what is now to become of Pike, who is now in the bizarre grey area of what happens when someone survives their death sentence.
There are three options which may be the course of action selected for Pike's case, the BBC reports.
Execution using a different method
Tennessee could make another attempt to execute Pike using a different method from the lethal injection.
However, Tennessee-based defence attorney Stephen Ross Johnson told the BBC that this could present additional legal challenges to those seeking out this conclusion.
Trying to execute Pike using a different method would likely require approval from the governor's office and even the state legislature, he said.
Some politicians in Tennessee are already calling for Pike's execution to be attempted via other means, with Congressman Tim Burchett sharing on social media that he has filed a bill to 'bring back hanging' while Senator Marsha Blackburn said to 'bring back the electric chair'.
Pike committed the murder in 1995 before Tennessee changed the law around execution, and was originally sentenced to the electric chair, which could provide a potential lead for people calling for this method.
However, Pike would also need to waive her legal right to die by lethal injection, and given that it's not clear if she is legally capable of doing that after the previous attempt, this could bar using a different method.
Try to execute Pike using lethal injection again
This is another option available to the Tennessee Department of Correction, but also presents a lot of challenges, Johnson said.
"For the state to attempt to execute her again using the same methodology, they would have severe legal hurdles," said Johnson.
Pike's execution is the second botched execution in one year, which Johnson said could create an opportunity for lawyers to challenge the legality of and the practice of how the state administers lethal injection.
There is also the element of 'cruel and unusual punishment', which may apply due to Pike having small veins and thrombocytosis, which complicates administering the injection.
Her medical condition combined with the botched attempt could make a strong legal case against attempting again to execute Pike by lethal injection.
Commute Pike's sentence
Owing to the current pause on executions in the state after Pike's execution was botched, it is unlikely that the case is going to be making significant movement towards a further execution anytime soon.
"At a minimum there's going to be some significant delay while this issue is studied by the state", said Johnson.
A combination of bad press from the botched execution as well as the complications from Pike's health, and whether all procedures were properly followed during the attempted execution, could make commuting her sentence a desirable option.
And there is also a precedent for this in US law as well, as Alabama death row prisoner Doyle Hamm was cancelled after executioners spent over two hours trying to find a vein.
In the end, his sentence was commuted, and he died of natural causes.
READ MORE: All of the failed lethal injection executions in the last decade
Kit Roberts