Christa Pike says she remains in pain after failed Tennessee execution

Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike said she remains in constant physical and emotional pain after surviving a lethal injection attempt on Sept. 30, issuing her first public statement since the failed execution through her legal team Friday.

“There hasn’t been a moment since that night when I haven’t been in pain,” Pike, 50, said. She described pain in her body, arms, hands and throat and said she still struggles to speak. Pike said she had entered the execution chamber prepared to die and later awoke alone and confused in a hospital bed. Although she is recovering, she said, “healing is not the same as being okay.”

Pike was hospitalized in critical condition after receiving two doses of pentobarbital. Her lawyers previously said she developed pneumonia, swelling in her arms and difficulty swallowing. She has since returned to the infirmary at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center.

Pike was sentenced to death for torturing and killing 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995. In her statement, she expressed gratitude to the medical workers who saved her and said she continues to think about Slemmer’s family and their loss.

Gov. Bill Lee ordered an independent review and paused Tennessee’s remaining executions for the year. Asked about Pike’s sentence, Lee said he expected it to remain unchanged unless the courts decide otherwise. Pike’s attorneys have asked him to commute her sentence to life imprisonment.

CBS News reported that Tennessee’s current execution protocol is shorter and less detailed than earlier versions, including reduced guidance and training requirements for establishing intravenous lines.