Christa Pike Says Pain Persists a Month After Failed Execution

Christa Pike, whose execution in Tennessee failed a month ago, said in a statement released through her legal team on Friday, Oct. 30, that she has been in pain in every moment since she was injected with pentobarbital. The Guardian reported the statement, which marks one month since the attempt.

Pike, who is 50, was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of her classmate Colleen Slemmer, when Pike was 18. On Sept. 30, Tennessee tried to execute her by injecting 5 grams of pentobarbital, a sedative, into her arms. She was strapped to a gurney. According to the Federal Defender, she was left in critical condition after surviving the procedure.

The execution team spent almost an hour trying to establish an intravenous line, a tube that delivers drugs into a vein. The procedure was botched, and Pike survived. In her statement, she said she had made her peace and had been prepared to die that day. She said she awoke alone in a hospital, confused and in pain.

In the statement, Pike said she still struggles to speak and has pain in her body, arms, hands and throat, as well as pain in her mind and soul. She said she is deeply hurt by the incompetence that put so many people in a terrible position. She also said she is being kept largely in solitary confinement, away from other people.

After 10 days of intensive hospital treatment, Pike was returned to the infirmary at the Debra Johnson rehabilitation center in Nashville. She is the only woman on Tennessee's death row.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has ordered a pause on further executions until an outside review is conducted. A Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Oct. 20 found that one in three Americans back a second execution attempt after a failed one.