Christa Pike After Failed Execution Twice: I Was Ready to Die in Peace

American Christa Pike, a survivor of two botched lethal injection executions, said she continues to suffer pain since escaping execution in Tennessee a month ago, and criticized what she described as the incompetence of those carrying out the procedure. In a statement released by her lawyers, Pike said, “I am deeply troubled by the incompetence that placed so many people in this horrific situation,” emphasizing that she has not stopped thinking about the family of her victim and the pain and loss they endured. She explained that she entered the execution chamber on September 30 last year, prepared to die peacefully after saying goodbye to her loved ones. She added, “A few days later, I woke up alone in the hospital, confused and in pain, and not a moment has passed since that night without me feeling pain.” She continued, “My body, arms, hands, and throat hurt, and I still have difficulty speaking.” She noted that she also suffers psychological pain and has lived in near-total isolation in the prison’s medical unit since the execution attempt, reviving her experience of solitary confinement, which she spent 28 years enduring. Pike thanked the doctors and emergency personnel who saved her life, as well as those who supported her, adding, “I don’t know why I survived that night, and I don’t know what will happen next,” while affirming that she is trying to recover day by day. In a related development, a court report published on October 27 revealed details showing that the execution team faced significant difficulties in inserting the intravenous catheters used for the lethal injection. Pike’s lawyer, Randy Spivey, who witnessed the execution attempt, said the team used about 10 needles and attempted to insert the catheter in multiple locations on her arms, amid concerns about rupturing some veins. Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported this week that Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said he expects Pike’s death sentence to remain unchanged unless the courts decide otherwise, despite her lawyers’ requests to commute the sentence to life imprisonment. Tennessee authorities had attempted to execute Pike on September 30 using two doses of pentobarbital, but the attempt failed and she was transported to a hospital before regaining consciousness on October 6. Pike was convicted of killing her 19-year-old friend, Colleen Slemmer, in 1995. She was scheduled to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.