Christa Pike, the Tennessee death row inmate whose execution was abandoned after two failed attempts to administer lethal drugs, reportedly described a botched lethal injection as her "worst nightmare" in a prison recording made just weeks before the procedure.
Pike, now aged 50, was convicted of torturing and murdering her Job Corps classmate Colleen Slemmer, 19, in January 1995, when Pike was 20 years old.
Fears over veins and physician qualifications
In the recording, obtained by the New York Times and reported by the Mirror, Pike expressed concerns about the lethal injection method, citing her veins and the physician's qualifications.
"The concerns I have on our lethal injection method are simply that I do not have good veins, and I'm worried about our physician not being qualified to start a central line on me," Pike said.
She referenced another prisoner, Tony Carruthers, whose lethal injection was called off in May after he was left suffering. "Tony Carruthers lived out my worst nightmare. Detail for detail. And I don't want to go through that," she added.
Execution attempt and aftermath
Pike had been due to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years on Wednesday. The execution was abandoned after two attempts to administer the lethal drugs failed, and Pike was rushed to hospital afterwards. Her lawyers said she was in a critical condition and receiving lifesaving treatment, while suggesting she may have suffered brain damage during the botched execution.
Pike also described fears over the drugs used, saying they had been compared to Drano, a chemical drain cleaner.
"The drug… supposedly burns very bad," she said. "And so that sounds scary to me because they used the word Drano in speaking about this drug, and the thought of suffocating and drowning on my own bodily fluid and blood isn't very appealing to me."
Remorse and calls for commutation
In the recordings, Pike also said she was "very remorseful" for the killing of Slemmer, despite not feeling that way initially.
"I'm very remorseful now," she said. "I wasn't in the beginning when I first caught this charge. I didn't care what I had done or who I had done it to."
"The horror of the pain that I caused her family, my family, my co-defendant's families, I have affected this world in such a negative way when all I ever wanted to do was care for people and leave love. I have done the opposite of that and that pains me," Pike said.
Maria DeLiberato, the lawyer of Tony Carruthers, said Pike had been put "right back in that room with Tony" during his execution attempt last May following her failed lethal injection. "We are joining the calls for a commutation for Christa, so she never experiences this torture again," DeLiberato said. "Moreover, we continue to ask the same for Tony, who is still recovering from his botched attempt and fighting to prove he was wrongfully convicted - all while he remains at risk of another execution attempt."
