Christa Pike suffering from pneumonia, unable to move arms after botched execution, lawyers say

Updated on: October 7, 2026 / 3:00 PM EDT / CBS News

Christa Pike's attorneys said she has pneumonia, a blood clot, couldn't swallow, and is unable to move her arms or hands once she regained consciousness in a Tennessee hospital, days after the death row inmate survived a botched execution by the state.

"Her hands looked like if you were to blow up a surgical glove," said one of Pike's attorneys, Randy Spivey, at a Wednesday news conference. "It was extraordinary."

Spivey said he and Pike's other attorneys were told she was brain-dead on Monday and expected her to be removed from life support. But by the next day, she had woken up and started talking, he said.

"I don't have an explanation for what happened," the attorney told reporters after a hearing at Davidson County Chancery Court. He said that Pike was confused and disoriented at first, but she began to remember details of the execution attempt on Wednesday.

In addition to the lung infection, a blood clot in her arm, and an issue swallowing that had prevented her from eating, Pike's arms and hands are "tremendously swollen," said Spivey, adding that "we don't know what function she…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/entertainment/