Christa Pike has spoken publicly for the first time since surviving a lethal injection in Tennessee, saying she remains in constant pain and is struggling to speak.
The 50-year-old was due to be executed on September 30 for the 1995 stabbing death of her classmate Colleen Slemmer. She survived after the state administered two doses of pentobarbital.
In a statement dictated to her legal team from the prison infirmary, Ms Pike said she had entered the execution chamber prepared to die peacefully but later woke alone and confused in a hospital bed.
“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,” she said.
“And the pain isn’t just physical. There is pain in my mind and in my soul.”
Ms Pike said she had not considered what life might be like beyond her execution date. She also expressed regret over the impact of the failed procedure and referred to the family of her victim.
“I’m deeply hurt by the incompetence that has put so many people in this terrible position. I continue to think about my victim’s family and the terrible pain and loss they have endured,” she said.
She thanked the medical workers who treated her and others who had offered support, saying she did not know why she had survived or what would happen next.
“For now, I am trying to heal, one day at a time. And I am holding on to the love and kindness of so many people who have reminded me that I am not alone,” she said.
Ms Pike’s lawyers have asked Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute her death sentence to life imprisonment. Mr Lee said this week that he suspected her sentence would remain unchanged unless the courts determined otherwise.
Mr Lee has ordered an investigation into the failed execution and postponed another lethal injection that had been scheduled in Tennessee this year.
Ms Pike was taken to hospital immediately after the attempted execution before being returned to the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Centre, where she is being held.
