Death Row inmate Christa Pike has spoken publicly for the first time since surviving a botched execution in Tennessee, describing how she woke up "confused and in pain" after receiving two doses of the lethal injection drug.
Pike, 50, was scheduled to be put to death on Wednesday, September 30, but survived two doses of pentobarbital. She was taken to intensive care and regained consciousness earlier this month.
Pike's Account of the Execution
In a statement dictated to her legal team, Pike said: "One month ago on September 30, I walked into the execution chamber at Riverbend men's prison prepared to die. I had made my peace. I had told the people who loved me, supported me and stood by me through the years I was grateful for them. I had also told the people in the room and who were there to witness my execution that I was leaving them in loving kindness."
She continued: "Several days later I woke up alone in a hospital confused and in pain. There hasn't been a moment since that night when I haven't been in pain. 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."
Reflections on Survival and Isolation
Pike said she had not contemplated life beyond that night and was "deeply hurt by the incompetence that has put so many people in this terrible position." She added that she continues to think about her victim's family and the pain and loss they have endured.
"I am recovering, and I know that I am getting stronger. But healing is not the same as being okay," she said. "Since that night, I have been largely isolated in the prison's medical ward, away from other people and the human connections that mean so much to me. That isolation brings its own kind of pain. I spent 28 years in solitary confinement and much of what I am experiencing today is a repeat of that condition."
Support and Recovery
Pike said she was searching for meaning in what happened, and drew strength from the "extraordinary love and support" she received from people around the world. "To know that so many people care about me, that they see me as a human being whose life matters, is something I cannot fully put into words," she said.
She also thanked first responders, doctors, nurses and hospital staff who cared for her, as well as her attorneys and supporters. "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. For now, I am trying to heal, one day at a time."
Pike's attorney said she began speaking again on October 22, and that her mental and physical state would remain under observation, with the full consequences of the drug dose not expected to be known for some time. After being discharged from hospital, Pike was taken back to the Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation Centre, the women's prison where she had spent three decades awaiting execution. Pike received a death sentence for the killing of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer, in 1995.
