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1/6 Christa Pike survived Tennessee's failed attempt to execute her on Sept. 30. Can the state try again? Experts tell AP it would push into uncharted legal territory. Today's wire story:

2/6 Pike, 50, was given two doses of pentobarbital and left with burns and blisters on her arms; her prognosis remains uncertain. Gov. Bill Lee has paused executions and ordered an outside review, and a judge ordered the state to preserve all evidence from the failed Sept. 30 attempt.

3/6 NACDL President-Elect Stephen Johnson, a Tennessee defense attorney, tells AP that whether the state can lawfully try again is "a complex question that will take significant time, attention and analysis" — and, he adds, litigation across multiple state and federal courts.

4/6 A likely first hurdle is competency. Pike regained consciousness about six days after the attempt — her team had believed she was brain dead — and awoke aware of what had happened, distressed and disoriented. Johnson expects years of litigation over whether she's even competent to be executed.

5/6 Experts call it uncharted territory. One death-penalty lawyer argues a second attempt, after she already suffered the drugs, could be torture barred by the Eighth Amendment. The clearest off-ramp, another says, is for the governor to commute her sentence.