One month after Tennessee’s failed attempt to execute her, convicted killer Christa Pike has described waking up alone in a hospital, in pain and unsure why she lived.
Story Highlights
- Pike survived two doses of the execution drug pentobarbital on September 30 and spent days unconscious in a hospital.
- In a statement dictated to her lawyers, she says her body, arms, hands and throat still hurt and she struggles to speak.
- Her lawyers filed an emergency motion asking a court to end her isolation in the prison infirmary.
- Gov. Bill Lee says he expects her death sentence to stay the same unless the courts decide otherwise.
- Pike’s lawyers have asked Gov. Bill Lee to commute her sentence to life in prison without parole.
- The victim’s niece, Morgan Seeley, said the family should not be expected to forgive: “My aunt doesn’t get to heal. She doesn’t get another chance at life.”
Pike Describes The Night She Was Supposed To Die
Pike’s lawyers released her statement on Friday, October 30, one month to the day after the execution attempt. It came the same day they filed an emergency motion asking a court to order the Tennessee Department of Correction to end what they call her “indefinite isolation” in the prison infirmary. They say it breaks a 2024 settlement that let her work, eat and spend time with other prisoners after 28 years in solitary confinement.
“One month ago on September 30, I walked into the execution chamber at Riverbend men’s prison prepared to die,” Pike said. Riverbend is the Nashville prison where Tennessee carries out executions. “I had made my peace,” she said. Several days later, she woke up alone in a hospital, confused and in pain.
“My body hurts. My arms hurt. My hands hurt. My throat hurts. I still struggle to speak,” she said. “There is pain in my mind and in my soul,” she said. “I am recovering, and I know that I am getting stronger. But healing is not the same as being okay.” She added, “I don’t know why I survived that night. I don’t know what comes next.”
What Went Wrong On September 30
Pike, 50, was given two doses of pentobarbital, a powerful sedative that Tennessee uses for lethal injections. Her lawyers say the IV team took more than an hour to set the lines and that the drug likely pooled in her arms instead of entering her bloodstream, leaving them swollen, burned and blistered. She was rushed to a hospital, where she was unconscious and on a ventilator for days. At one point her lawyers expected her to be taken off life support.
The Department of Correction said it “followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office.” Pike was returned to prison on October 9. She is held in the infirmary at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, a women’s prison in Nashville.
The Governor Signals Her Sentence Stands
After the failed attempt, Lee called it “deeply disturbing,” halted Tennessee’s remaining executions for the year and ordered an independent review of what went wrong. The state’s prison chief, Frank Strada, has since resigned.
Pike’s lawyers have asked Lee to commute her sentence, which means reduce it, to life in prison without parole. On Wednesday, October 28, Lee told reporters that Pike “is still incarcerated under the laws of the state of Tennessee” and that he suspects “her sentence will be the same as it was before.” He has not said he plans to step in.
The Crime And The Victim’s Family
Pike was 18 when she and two others killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995. Both women were students in the Job Corps, a federal job-training program, in Knoxville. The three took Slemmer to a secluded spot on the University of Tennessee campus, where she was beaten and her throat was cut. Pike confessed to her role and was sentenced to death in 1996.
In her statement, Pike said she thinks about Slemmer’s family and the pain they have carried. Slemmer’s niece, Morgan Seeley, said the family has lived with that pain for 30 years and should not be expected to forgive. “My aunt doesn’t get to heal. She doesn’t get another chance at life,” Seeley said.
Sources:
foxnews.com, apnews.com, wbrz.com, usatoday.com, abcnews.com, tn.gov