Christa Pike speaks of constant pain after botched execution

Christa Pike, who was sentenced to death for the 1995 stabbing death of her classmate Colleen Slemmer, has given her first public statement since surviving a botched execution on September 30. The 50-year-old woman is in constant pain a month after the lethal injection attempt in Tennessee. She blames the failure on incompetence, undergoing two doses of pentobarbital that left her physically and mentally suffering.

Pike struggled to speak and was alone and confused when she woke up in a hospital bed, having endured pain in her body and soul. She expressed deep hurt for the victim's family and the loss they have endured. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has called for an investigation into the failed execution and postponed other lethal injections scheduled this year.

The state's prison chief resigned following the incident. Pike's lawyers claim the failed lethal injection left her arms burned and blistered, which may have caused the drug to pool in her tissue instead of entering her bloodstream. Pike's attorneys urge the governor to reduce her sentence to life imprisonment, but Lee stated that her sentence is likely to remain the same unless determined otherwise by the courts.

Pike, who was 18 when she and her boyfriend tortured and killed Slemmer, is currently housed at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center and continues to seek healing day by day.