Christa Pike Says Pain Persists in First Statement Since Failed Execution
Christa Pike, who survived a failed lethal injection execution in Tennessee in September, has said she has not had a moment without pain since that night. Her legal team released the statement on social media on Friday, October 30, and it is her first public statement since the attempt.
In the statement, Pike said her body, arms, hands and throat hurt, and that she still struggles to speak. She said the pain is not only physical but also in her mind and soul. She described herself as recovering and getting stronger, while saying that healing is not the same as being okay.
Pike is 50. She was discharged from hospital at the end of September and sent back to the prison where she has spent the past 30 years. She is serving that time for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer, a schoolmate, which Pike committed when she was 18.
Her execution had been scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Central Daylight Time on September 30, 2026. That morning, Tennessee officials announced that she had been taken to an off-site medical facility. She had received two lethal injections of pentobarbital, a barbiturate drug, and was left in critical condition. Both attempts took place in Nashville.
Her lawyers said she woke in hospital "angry and confused." Her legal team later described a "long road to recovery." According to Reuters, she was not conscious until five days after the injections, and her lawyers said she was "conscious and speaking" once she was. The Associated Press reported that she had begun walking and eating again at the hospital a week after the attempt.
The case is also notable for its history. Pike is thought to be the only person to have survived an execution attempt by lethal injection. Reuters also reported that the attempt was the state's first in 200 years to execute a woman.
Pike's attorneys have asked the Tennessee Supreme Court to allow her to be hanged instead of executed by lethal injection, according to NPR. A Reuters/Ipsos poll, reported on October 20, found that one in three Americans back a second execution attempt after a failed one.
