Christa Pike Speaks for First Time After Surviving Tennessee Execution Attempt

Christa Pike, 50, has spoken publicly for the first time since she survived Tennessee's attempt to execute her by lethal injection on September 30. In a written statement her attorneys say was dictated to them, Pike described pain that has not stopped since that night.

"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," she said, in comments reported by CNN. "I am recovering, and I know that I am getting stronger. But healing is not the same as being okay."

The night of September 30

Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital on September 30 and was hospitalized, on a ventilator at first. Her attorneys did not expect her to survive. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, she is the only person to ever survive being injected with lethal chemicals in an execution.

Media witnesses said the first dose of pentobarbital was given at about 7:40 p.m. on September 30 and a second dose followed at around 8 p.m., USA Today reported. After an hour of waiting, the attempt was stopped and emergency services were called at 8:40 p.m.

In a further comment reported by USA Today, Pike said: "I had not contemplated life beyond that night, and I'm deeply hurt by the incompetence that has put so many people in this terrible position."

The case and the aftermath

Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of her classmate Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. Pike was 18 at the time. In her statement, reported by The Tennessean, she said: "I continue to think about my victim's family and the terrible pain and loss they have endured."

After the failed execution, Governor Bill Lee paused all executions in Tennessee and ordered an investigation, and prison commissioner Frank Strada resigned. USA Today reported that the attempt was the second execution to go wrong in the state this year.

Since October 10, Pike has been back at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center in Nashville, where she has been held for more than 30 years, The Tennessean reported. She continues to receive medical care in the prison infirmary.

It is unclear whether Pike will face execution again. CNN reported that her attorneys are fighting to prevent a second attempt and have demanded that her sentence be commuted. For now, her statement is the first account in her own words of a night that ended without an execution, and of the weeks of recovery that followed it.