‘I had made my peace’: Christa Pike speaks out after botched execution
She finally speaks out after a month.
Christa Pike thought she was going to die on September 30. She had said her goodbyes, made peace with the people she loved, and entered Tennessee’s execution chamber prepared for her death. But a month after surviving a lethal injection that was supposed to kill her, the 50-year-old says she is still struggling to understand what comes next.
In her first public statement since the failed execution, Pike described waking up alone in a hospital several days after the procedure, confused and in pain. The statement, dictated to her legal team and shared publicly on Friday, October 30, details the physical and emotional consequences of an execution attempt that left her hospitalized and eventually returned to prison.
“There hasn’t been a moment since that night when I haven’t been in pain,” Pike said. “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 also said she had never contemplated living beyond her scheduled execution date. “I had not contemplated life beyond that night,” she wrote, adding that she was deeply hurt by the ‘incompetence’ that had put so many people in a terrible position. She also acknowledged the family of her victim, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, saying she continues to think about the pain and loss they have endured.
Surviving the execution did not mean escaping its consequences
Tennessee attempted to execute Pike on September 30 using pentobarbital, a lethal injection drug. Officials administered two doses, but Pike continued breathing and was eventually taken to a hospital. According to ABC News, her attorneys later said she had suffered serious medical complications, including pneumonia and a blood clot, while her arms and hands were swollen, burned and blistered.
Her legal team has alleged that the execution drugs leaked into the tissue surrounding her IV lines instead of properly entering her bloodstream. The exact circumstances behind the failed procedure remain under investigation.
Pike was initially unconscious and placed on a ventilator. She began regaining consciousness in early October and was discharged from the hospital on October 10, according to her attorneys. She was subsequently transferred to the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center in Nashville, where she remains on death row.
In her statement, Pike said she has been largely isolated in the prison’s medical ward since returning from the hospital. She described the isolation as another source of suffering, particularly after spending 28 years in solitary confinement. “I am recovering, and I know that I am getting stronger. But healing is not the same as being okay,” she said.
Tennessee’s failed execution has raised questions beyond Pike’s case
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of Slemmer, her 19-year-old classmate. Pike was 18 at the time of the killing, which involved her boyfriend and another accomplice. The failed execution has also prompted scrutiny of Tennessee’s lethal injection procedures. Gov. Bill Lee ordered an independent review of the incident and halted the state’s remaining scheduled executions for the year. The state’s prison commissioner also resigned following the incident, according to the Associated Press.
Pike’s attorneys have asked Lee to commute her death sentence to life imprisonment. Lee has indicated that he expects the sentence to remain in place unless a court determines otherwise.
For now, Pike says she is trying to recover without knowing what will happen next. She thanked the first responders, hospital staff, attorneys and supporters who helped her through the aftermath of the execution attempt.
“I don’t know why I survived that night. I don’t know what comes next,” she said. “Some days, finding hope is harder than others.” Her statement ends with a commitment to take recovery one day at a time, holding on to the kindness of people who have reminded her that she is not alone.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
Follow The Mary Sue:
