Christa Pike, who survived a botched Tennessee execution, has left the hospital and returned to prison, her lawyers say

What happened

Christa Pike has been discharged from a hospital and moved back to prison after Tennessee's attempt to execute her by lethal injection failed last month, CBS News reported, citing her lawyers. She is now at the Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center in Nashville, where she was held before her planned execution on Sept. 30.

Her attorneys, Stephen Ferrell, Luke Ihnen, Randy Spivey and Kelly Gleason, announced the move in a statement Saturday. They said Pike is grateful to the first responders and her medical team, that she continues to receive medical care at the prison, and that they will keep tracking her recovery.

How the execution failed

Two doses of a lethal drug

Pike, 50, received two doses of a lethal injection drug, according to CBS News. Her legal team confirmed shortly afterward that she was still alive and had been hospitalized. A media witness said she could be heard snoring loudly about one hour after the procedure began, and she was then taken by ambulance to a hospital.

Recovery in the hospital

Her lawyers said on Tuesday that she had regained consciousness and was talking from her hospital bed. By Wednesday she was "taking limited steps" with help, her team said. On Thursday, her attorneys reported that she was walking "with some assistance," that her arms were regaining movement and strength, that her lungs were clear and that she had begun eating a regular diet.

Why the case stands out

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Pike is the only person known to have survived an execution attempt in the U.S. CBS News noted that other inmates have survived botched procedures, but Pike is the only known inmate of the modern death penalty era to remain alive after actually receiving lethal chemicals.

The execution went forward after the Supreme Court turned down a last-minute bid to stop it. Pike was set to become the first woman executed in Tennessee since 1820. For another recent capital punishment story, see the Pentagon's plan to livestream the Fort Hood shooter's execution.

The 1995 conviction

Pike was convicted in 1995 of murdering her classmate, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Court filings show that Pike, who was 18 at the time, tortured and killed Slemmer in a wooded area of the University of Tennessee campus with help from her boyfriend and a friend, CBS News reported.

The legal fight ahead

Court orders records preserved

Pike's attorneys took part in an emergency hearing in Davidson County court on Wednesday. They asked for and received a decision requiring Tennessee's correctional department to preserve records and other evidence related to the failed lethal injection.

Push for commutation

Her legal team has renewed its request that Gov. Bill Lee commute her death sentence to life in prison without parole, which would prevent the state from trying to execute her a second time. Her attorneys said commutation is the usual course after an inmate survives a botched execution.

"The state has made no promises that Ms. Pike will not be subject to a future execution," Ihnen said in court on Wednesday, according to CBS News. The outlet reported that it remains unclear what will happen to Pike next.

What to watch next

• Whether Gov. Bill Lee acts on the renewed request to commute Pike's sentence to life in prison without parole.
• Whether Tennessee moves to attempt a second execution, which her attorneys say the state has not ruled out.
• How the correctional department's records and evidence are handled under the Davidson County court decision.
• Updates from her attorneys on her ongoing medical care at the prison.