Christa Pike, 50, says she remains in constant pain a month after a failed Christa Pike execution in Tennessee, according to a statement released by her legal team. Pike blamed the failure on "incompetence."
In the statement, Pike said there has not been a moment since the failed execution when she has not been in pain, according to Al Jazeera. She said her body, arms, hands and throat hurt, and that she still struggles to speak, according to the Straits Times.
Pike was given two doses of a drug on September 30 at a Tennessee state prison, according to the Straits Times. The drug failed to kill her, and she was hospitalised in critical condition.
Her lawyers say the drug pooled in her arms rather than entering her bloodstream, leaving them burned and blistered, according to Al Jazeera. No cause has been confirmed. PBS NewsHour reported that experts are focused on a possible problem with an IV line.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, which she committed with her boyfriend when she was 18, according to PBS NewsHour headlines.
The Death Penalty Information Center reportedly says Pike is the only inmate to survive after being injected with lethal doses of execution drugs.
Governor Bill Lee ordered an independent review of the failed execution and postponed the state’s other lethal injection scheduled this year. The state’s prison chief, Frank Strada, resigned. Lee told reporters he "suspects" Pike’s sentence will be the same as before unless the courts determine otherwise.
Sources disagree on the name of the drug. Al Jazeera says it was phenobarbital, while the Straits Times and PBS NewsHour headlines say it was pentobarbital.
Pike’s lawyers have asked a federal judge to let her interact with other prisoners. They say her isolation has caused significant psychological harm and trauma. The judge has yet to rule on the request.
An independent review of the failed execution is underway. Governor Lee has not decided on a clemency request that would change Pike’s sentence to life.
The sources do not include a response from Tennessee officials or the Department of Correction to Pike’s statement, and the outcome of the review has not been reported. The main facts rest mainly on Al Jazeera and the Straits Times, and only excerpts of the PBS NewsHour piece were available.
Sources
This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.