Tennessee Inmate Reports Persistent Pain After Lethal Injection Fails

Christa Pike said Friday she has been in constant pain since surviving a lethal injection attempt in Tennessee, telling her legal team she still struggles to speak a month after the procedure. Pike, 50, said she never considered a life beyond her scheduled execution date and woke up alone in a hospital bed after the attempt. "There hasn't been a moment since that night when I haven't been in pain," Pike said in a statement dictated from the prison infirmary. "My body hurts. My arms hurt. My hands hurt. My throat hurts. I still struggle to speak."

Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital during the state's Sept. 30 effort to carry out her sentence for the 1995 stabbing death of 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer. Pike was 18 at the time of the killing and became one of the youngest women sentenced to death. She said the pain extends beyond physical symptoms. "And the pain isn't just physical. There is pain in my mind and in my soul," she said. Pike also said she remains concerned for the victim's family and the loss they have endured.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has called for an investigation into the circumstances of the failed execution and postponed the state's other scheduled lethal injection for the year. Pike's attorneys have asked the governor to commute her sentence to life imprisonment. Lee told reporters earlier this week that he expects the sentence to stand absent a court ruling, saying, "I suspect her sentence will be the same as before unless determined otherwise by the courts."

Pike was hospitalized immediately after the attempt before being transferred back to the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center. She said she is grateful for the medical workers who treated her and for those who reached out afterward. "I don't know why I survived that night. I don't know what comes next," Pike said. She said she is focused on healing, adding, "For now, I am trying to heal, one day at a time." Her statement was provided by her legal team on Friday.

Pike's case dates to 1995, when she was a student convicted alongside her boyfriend in the torture and killing of Slemmer. She has been held at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center while the state reviews the execution attempt.