Christa Pike says she remains in pain after surviving failed execution

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Christa Pike says she has been in constant pain since surviving a failed lethal injection in Tennessee in September. In her first public statement since the attempt, released by her legal team on social media, the 50-year-old described pain in her body, arms, hands and throat, as well as distress affecting her mind and spirit. She said she still struggles to speak.

Pike said she is recovering and becoming stronger, but added that healing does not mean she is well. She also said she had not imagined living beyond the night of the execution attempt and expressed hurt at what she called the incompetence that had placed many people in a difficult position. She said she continued to think about the pain and loss experienced by Colleen Slemmer’s family.

Pike was taken to hospital after two doses of pentobarbital were administered during the 30 September procedure. Her lawyers said she later developed pneumonia, had marked swelling in her arms and had difficulty swallowing. One report says her arms were burned and blistered and quotes her describing a feeling of pressure before asking whether the effects were normal. Her lawyers have suggested faulty intravenous lines allowed the drug to enter the tissue rather than her bloodstream.

Pike was discharged from hospital and returned to the prison where she has been held for about 30 years. She was 18 when she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, killed 19-year-old Slemmer, whom they had met at a training camp for young people from low-income backgrounds. Shipp was not eligible for the death penalty because he was under 18 at the time and remains in prison. Pike is believed to be the only person to have survived a lethal-injection execution attempt. A judge has ordered Tennessee to preserve evidence related to the procedure; Governor Bill Lee has said Pike remains subject to her sentence unless the courts decide otherwise.

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