Christa Pike blames Tennessee execution failure on incompetence
Pike reported constant pain and difficulty speaking in her first public remarks since surviving the Sept. 30 lethal injection.
By Carolina Wood ·
Christa Pike stated on Friday that she endures constant pain and struggles to speak one month after surviving a lethal injection in Tennessee. She attributed the failed execution to the state’s incompetence.
Pike, 50, issued her first public statement since the Sept. 30 procedure. She described waking up alone and confused in a hospital bed after having expected to die on her execution date.
“There hasn’t been a moment since that night when I haven’t been in pain. My body hurts. My arms hurt. My hands hurt. My throat hurts. I still struggle to speak. And the pain isn’t just physical. There is pain in my mind and in my soul,” Pike said.
The state attempted to execute Pike for the 1995 stabbing death of 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer. Pike was 18 when she and her boyfriend killed Slemmer. She survived two doses of pentobarbital during the procedure.
Pike’s lawyers reported that the failed injection left her arms burned and blistered. She remained unconscious and on a ventilator for the first few days of her hospitalization. Medical experts suspect a problem with the IV line caused the drug to pool in her tissue instead of entering her bloodstream.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee ordered an investigation into the execution failure. He also postponed the state’s other lethal injection scheduled for this year. Pike’s attorneys urged Lee to reduce her sentence to life imprisonment.
Lee told reporters this week that he suspects Pike’s sentence will remain unchanged unless the courts determine otherwise. Pike’s statement was dictated to her legal team from the infirmary at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, where she is currently housed.
