Christa Pike, who is on death row in Tennessee, United States, has spoken out for the first time since her botched execution on September 30, during which she was administered two doses of lethal injection drugs.
In a statement released Friday by her attorneys, Pike said she had not imagined she would still be alive after the procedure ended.
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“I did not consider the possibility of continuing to live,” she said.
She said she is still experiencing severe pain in several parts of her body, as well as difficulty speaking. Pike cited problems with her arms, hands and throat, noting that the incident has also affected her mental and spiritual well-being.
“There is pain in my mind and soul,” she wrote, adding that although she has noticed some improvement, her recovery is progressing slowly.
“I am healing, and I know I am getting stronger. But healing is not the same as being okay,” Pike said.
During the procedure, she was given two doses of pentobarbital, but did not die and was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. After spending several days in the hospital, Pike was released on October 10 and returned to prison.
Her attorneys have said that after the execution attempt, she was suffering from pneumonia, had significant swelling in her arms and was having trouble swallowing. Pike is still receiving medical treatment and is being held separately from other inmates.
The crime for which she was convicted took place in January 1995, when Pike was 18. She took part in the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, whom she had met at a youth center in Knoxville.
Court documents show that Pike, her then-boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp and another girl took Slemmer to a secluded location, where they assaulted and tortured her until she died.
Pike was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Shipp, who was 17 at the time of the crime, was sentenced to life in prison.
Pike’s execution was scheduled for September 30 at Riverbend Correctional Facility in Nashville. If carried out, she would have become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than two centuries.
But the procedure was halted after the two doses of pentobarbital failed to kill her. According to her attorneys, members of the execution team had difficulty finding a vein and used about ten needles during the attempt.
After the botched execution, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee halted other scheduled executions through 2026 and called for an independent investigation into the incident.
Pike’s death sentence remains in effect. Two days before the scheduled execution, Governor Lee had denied her request for clemency and to have her sentence commuted to life in prison.
