Christa Pike returns to prison after botched execution, but her final sentence faces a new test.

Christa Pike's survival of a lethal injection could create added risks and disability claims that may prevent Tennessee from re-executing her.

Fordham Law Professor Deborah Denno discusses the future of Krista Pike

Christa Pike may be spared the death penalty if the survivor of the Sept. 30 fatal injection attempt left her mentally disturbed, according to a leading U.S. death penalty researcher who also raised some other possibilities.

Christa Pike may have been spared the death penalty if she was mentally disturbed by two doses of the lethal injection drug pentobarbital, according to a leading US death penalty expert.

Fordham professor Deborah Denno, a leading expert on the death penalty, said: "His lawyer said he's still a little confused about things and he's not clear about it, he doesn't have a clear memory of what happened to him. "If this continues, it will be very difficult for the government to execute him alone. In other words, you have to understand why you are being punished and also tie it to whatever crime you committed."

He added: "We do not execute people with mental disabilities either."

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Pike was scheduled to be sentenced to death on September 30 after the Supreme Court revoked the stay at the last minute. He was convicted and sentenced to death for torturing and killing 19-year-old Colin Slemmer in Knoxville in 1995, a classmate he knew from vocational school. Career Corps Center.

A former Knoxville police chief says investigators are still looking for Cullen Slammer's murder 31 years later.

Now, his fate is uncertain. There are several options, but government officials have yet to publicly announce their plans.

One option is that Gov. Bill Lee could commute his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He has already suspended executions in the state for at least the rest of the year. But still, Deno said the governor's job switch is a long way off.

Lawyers, experts urge Tennessee governor to commute Krista Pike's sentence after botched execution

He said he would likely face another trial if state officials seek another death sentence.

"It could go to the Tennessee Supreme Court and they could decide whether he gets life in prison or whether he gets another execution or an attempted execution," he said. "If there is going to be another attempt to execute, there may be different ways."

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One possible argument from Pike's lawyers could be a double jeopardy claim, Deno said.

"In other words, he's already received state punishment — A to Z, they injected drugs, he got drugs, they did whatever it took to actually execute someone — and he didn't simply die," Deno said. "But it's about the government and how they choose to do it — or their incompetence."

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This argument will have to be tested in court, and if it fails, the next question is what kind of execution will he face next time?

Do you want to use lethal injection again? I think her lawyers have the best argument we've ever seen that it's cruel and unusual, in this case Christa Pike asked for two other potential methods of execution: hanging and firing squad.

Fort Hood firing squad could usher in a new era of executions across America, expert says.

Pike, meanwhile, has been released from hospital and is back in jail after what his lawyers described as a "significant" physical recovery. He is the only known survivor of an attempted lethal injection in modern times.

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