CHRISTA PIKE DESCRIBES PAIN AFTER FAILED EXECUTION

Christa Pike said she remains in pain after surviving a failed execution in Tennessee on 30 September. In a statement issued through her legal team, Pike said she entered the execution chamber at Riverbend men’s prison prepared to die. “Several days later I woke up alone in a hospital confused and in pain,” she said. Pike said her arms, hands and throat still hurt and that she struggles to speak. She received a death sentence for killing Colleen Slemmer in 1995.

The execution team began trying to place the two intravenous lines required under Tennessee’s protocol at 6.34pm. Emergency services initially delayed taking Pike to hospital because of confusion over whether she was alive, and she arrived there at about 9.11pm. Accounts differ on whether Pike survived two execution attempts or one attempt involving two doses of pentobarbital. Doctors put her on a ventilator, and her lawyers said they did not expect her to survive. She left hospital on 10 October and returned to prison.

Pike said she had not considered what life would be like after the scheduled execution. She said the pain also affected her mind and that she felt hurt by what she called incompetence during the procedure. Pike said she continued to think about Slemmer’s family and the loss they had endured. “I am recovering, and I know that I am getting stronger,” she said. The statement did not identify a date for any further execution attempt.