Botched execution survivor Christa Pike 'up and walking'

Convicted US killer Christa Pike who survived a botched execution has been walking around her hospital room, her lawyer has said.

The 50-year-old was considered brain dead after two lethal doses of the drug pentobarbital failed to kill her, but as doctors planned to remove her life support she unexpectedly woke up and started talking.

Her lawyer Stephen Ferrell has told the BBC Pike she is now walking, but is still "somewhat foggy" mentally.

"She is up and walking for the first time today, but just around the room, you know, not very far," he said.

"There could be some permanent damage. We don't know that yet," Mr Ferrell added, although he clarified that he had not personally seen her and was getting updates from his colleagues.

In 1996, Pike was sentenced to death for the torture and murder of a classmate, Colleen Slemmer, a crime committed when she was 18.

Since Pike's botched execution, her lawyers have repeatedly called on Governor Bill Lee to commute her sentence to life in prison.

Governor Lee has suspended executions in Tennessee pending an independent investigation into this case.

Whether the state will eventually try to execute Pike again has not been decided.

"We are very much in uncharted waters," Mr Ferrell said.

Pike is the only inmate to ever survive being injected with lethal doses of execution drugs, according to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPI).

On Wednesday, a court ordered Tennessee corrections officials to preserve all evidence related to Pike's botched execution including medical supplies, waste, and audio and video recordings.