The aunt of Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike has called for her niece’s death sentence to be commuted, saying her survival of a failed lethal injection was evidence that God had intervened.

Carrie Ross, who helped raise Pike and considers her like a daughter, spoke in the family’s first interview since the 50-year-old inmate regained consciousness following the botched execution.

Pike was scheduled to be executed on September 30 at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, but the procedure was unsuccessful after she received two doses of the lethal injection drug pentobarbital. She was subsequently taken to hospital in critical condition.

Her lawyers said Pike later regained consciousness but continues to suffer serious health complications, including pneumonia, a blood clot in her arms and difficulty eating. Ross said the family has not been able to speak with Pike since she woke from a coma, describing the past week as emotionally overwhelming.

Ross has urged authorities not to make another attempt on Pike’s life, arguing that a second execution would subject her to further suffering. She said the failed procedure reinforced her belief that the decision over Pike’s fate ultimately rests with God rather than prison authorities.

Pike was sentenced to death over the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, her classmate. She was 18 when Slemmer was tortured and killed in an attack prosecutors linked to jealousy.