Christa Pike's Request for iPad Signals Brain Recovery After Botched Death Row Execution: Expert

Christa Pike’s request for her iPad gave her legal team a reason for hope following her failed execution.

Los Angeles Magazine reporter Lauren Conlin discussed the detail with TMZ's "In The Know," noting that Pike's desire to communicate with friends, family, and her attorneys could point to meaningful brain function.

Pike’s attorneys also said she woke up Tuesday, October 6, with questions about her surroundings and the people around her.

"Where am I and who are you?" the lawyer said.

The development came days after Pike’s attorney feared she could be brain-dead and would be removed from life support.

Pike was conscious and speaking on Wednesday, but her condition remained serious.

Her attorneys said she was angry and confused as she tried to process what happened.

She was also dealing with pneumonia and a blood clot in one arm. Pike could not move either arm and was unable to eat because she could not swallow.

Her attorneys said it was still unclear how much function she would eventually regain. Severe swelling affected her hands and arms, with one attorney comparing them to an inflated surgical glove.

Pike also remained shackled at her feet and on her right arm while under guard at the hospital.

She was taken to a local hospital after last week’s failed execution and spent several days unconscious and on a ventilator. The reporters who attended her failed execution said they could hear Pike snoring during the attempt.

Pike’s legal team also pushed to preserve evidence from the execution, including the pentobarbital used during the attempt.

Conlin said the request could become important if Pike’s attorneys pursue a civil case against Tennessee. Her lawyers previously warned that Pike’s medical conditions could make lethal injection particularly dangerous.

Her attorneys also revealed that they did not see Pike in person until Wednesday, nearly a week after the failed execution.

Pike had reportedly made peace with dying before the execution, leaving her legal team to consider the emotional impact of surviving the attempt.

Governor Bill Lee suspended executions in Tennessee through the end of the year while officials review what exactly happened. The pause also prolonged the life of death row inmate Gary Wayne Sutton.

Pike’s attorneys continued asking Lee to commute her death sentence as they questioned how much further suffering Pike could face.

Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Prosecutors said Pike and two teenage accomplices lured Slemmer to an abandoned steam plant near the University of Tennessee, where they attacked her.

Pike was 18 at the time of the killing and has spent more than three decades on death row.

Her attorneys have also cited Pike's history of childhood sexual and physical abuse in efforts to seek clemency and have her case reconsidered.

The failed execution also carried historical significance. If completed, Pike's execution would have made her the first woman executed by Tennessee in more than 200 years.