Pike describes constant pain one month after surviving execution
The 50-year-old inmate says she has felt physical and mental agony since waking up in a hospital bed.
By Daphne Turner ·
Nashville, Tennessee. Christa Pike issued her first public statement Friday, marking exactly one month since she survived a lethal injection in Tennessee. The 50-year-old inmate said she has been in pain every moment since waking up confused in a hospital.
Pike dictated the statement to her lawyers. She described entering the execution chamber having already said her goodbyes. "I had not contemplated life beyond that night," Pike wrote. "Several days later I woke up alone in a hospital confused and in pain. 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 was sentenced to death in 1995 for the murder of her classmate, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Court filings indicate Pike, then 18, killed Slemmer in a wooded area on the University of Tennessee campus. The execution team administered two doses of the drug pentobarbital. A media attendee reported hearing Pike snoring loudly about an hour after the procedure began. She was then transported by ambulance to a local hospital.
Her attorneys revealed earlier this month that Pike contracted pneumonia and a blood clot. She could not swallow and was unable to move her arms or hands when she regained consciousness. One lawyer told reporters her hands looked like a blown-up surgical glove. Pike began walking soon after and was discharged to the prison on October 10 for further treatment.
The Death Penalty Information Center notes Pike is the only person known to have survived a U.S. execution attempt where the drug was administered. Court documents suggest her veins may have ruptured before the injection. Her lawyer said the team used about 10 needles and tried several IV sites on both arms. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee paused state executions through the end of the year. He told reporters Wednesday he suspects Pike’s sentence will remain the same unless courts decide otherwise.
Pike’s lawyer, Steve Ferrell, of the Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee, asked a court to commute her sentence during an interview on October 5. "The least that could happen now is that we at least take death off the table and start looking for what the future could be for her," Ferrell said. A follow-up hearing scheduled for October 23 was canceled while the judge considers multiple motions. Pike’s lawyers successfully petitioned the court on October 7 to preserve all evidence from the failed execution.
Pike said in her statement that she is searching for meaning in the event. "One thing that has given me strength is the extraordinary love and support I have received from people around the world. I am overwhelmed by the kindness and prayers of people I have known for years and complete strangers who have never met me," she wrote. A Reuters/Ipsos poll from earlier this month found that one-third of Americans support a second attempt to execute Pike.
