Follow-Up: Tennessee Death Row Inmate Christa Pike Speaks for the First Time Since Surviving Her Execution: 'There Hasn't Been a Moment When I Haven't Been in Pain'

Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike released a statement through her lawyers on Friday, October 30, her first public comments since the state tried to execute her on September 30, CNN and Reuters reported. In the statement, which her attorneys say she dictated to them, Pike said she has been in constant pain, physically and mentally, since that night, and has been largely isolated in a prison hospital ward.

Pike, 50, survived two doses of pentobarbital at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on September 30, was taken to a hospital unconscious and critically ill, and regained consciousness days later. She was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of her 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, she is the first person known to have survived an execution in which lethal chemicals were actually injected. She was released from the hospital on October 10 and returned to the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, where she continues to receive medical care in the prison infirmary.

'I walked into the execution chamber at Riverbend prepared to die,' Pike said in the statement. '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.' She said she is recovering and getting stronger, but that 'healing is not the same as being okay.' She said she continues to think about her victim's family and the terrible pain and loss they have endured, does not know why she survived or what comes next, and is trying to heal one day at a time.

Her attorneys filed an emergency motion the same day asking that she be removed from what they called 'indefinite isolation in the prison infirmary,' where she has been cut off from all other inmates since leaving the hospital. Lawyers Angie Bergman, Brian Roark and Hannah Webber said state officials have kept her alone in violation of a 2024 settlement agreement that allows Pike to work, eat, socialize and exercise alongside other women in the general population at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, and the motion asked for the agreement to be enforced, with accommodation for group meals, recreation, work and other social interaction. A spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Correction said the agency does not comment on pending litigation; the state Attorney General's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Thursday, a court ruled Pike has until late January to make a new filing amending her lawsuit to reflect what happened on September 30, giving her extra time because of her medical condition. Her attorneys have also urged Governor Bill Lee to commute her sentence to life in prison. Lee told reporters in Nashville this week that he is not inclined to do so: 'She's still incarcerated under the laws of the State of Tennessee. I suspect her sentence will be the same as before unless determined otherwise by the courts.'

On Friday, Lee also announced that Christopher Hansen would serve as interim commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction effective immediately, while keeping his current duties as assistant commissioner of community supervision. Former commissioner Frank Strada stepped down earlier this month following the backlash over the attempted execution; Lee previously ordered an investigation into what went wrong and suspended all executions for the rest of the year.

Colleen Slemmer's mother, May Martinez, has said the attention on Pike's condition has taken attention away from the victim, and told a television station: 'I think the state owes me a big apology.'

Related: Follow-Up: New Filing Details Pike Execution in Tennessee: Nearly a Dozen Needle Sticks as Warnings Mounted

Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 图：田纳西州 Nashville 夜景（资料图），Pike 目前关押在该市的 Debra K. Johnson 康复中心。照片：Cessna86，公有领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Nashville, Tennessee, at night (file photo). Photo by Cessna86, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

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