‘My body hurts’: Christa Pike describes botched execution ordeal

Christa Pike, who survived an execution by lethal injection in the US, has described the experience for the first time.The convicted murderer was due to be put to death in Tennessee on Wednesday, September 30th but survived two botched attempts.Pike (50), was taken to hospital unconscious but alive from Tennessee’s execution chamber on September 30th, after receiving two doses of the barbiturate pentobarbital.She said in a statement to her legal team that a month ago she “walked into the execution chamber at Riverbend men’s prison prepared to die.READ MORE“I had made my peace. I had told the people who loved me, supported me and stood by me through the years I was grateful for them. I had also told the people in the room and who were there to witness my execution that I was leaving them in loving kindness.“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.[ Christa Pike: Life, death and a botched execution in TennesseeOpens in new window ]“I had not contemplated life beyond that night, and 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.“I am recovering, and I know that I am getting stronger. But healing is not the same as being okay.”Emergency vehicles arrive at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution after the execution of Christa Pike was halted. Photograph: George Walker IV/AP Pike was 18 and her then boyfriend 17 at the time when they killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, one of their classmates at Knoxville Job Corps, in Tennessee in 1995.According to prosecutors, Pike was worried Slemmer was trying to take the boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, away from her. Together, they lured Slemmer into a wooded area, tortured and killed her.Shipp was convicted of first-degree murder in 1997 and was given a life sentence with the possibility of parole. Pike has never denied her involvement in Slemmer’s killing. She was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder but, because she was 18, she was sentenced to death and has been on death row, isolated, for 30 years.In a statement to her lawyers, she said that since the night of the attempted execution, she has been “largely isolated in the prison’s medical ward, away from other people and the human connections that mean so much to me. “That isolation brings its own kind of pain. I spent 28 years in solitary confinement and much of what I am experiencing today is a repeat of that condition.“I am searching for meaning in what happened to me. One thing that has given me strength is the extraordinary love and support I have received from people around the world. I am overwhelmed by the kindness and prayers of people I have known for years and complete strangers who have never met me.“To know that so many people care about me, that they see me as a human being whose life matters, is something I cannot fully put into words. It is humbling, and it has touched me more deeply than I can explain.”She went on to thank the first responders, doctors, nurses and “everyone at the hospital who cared for me”. “They treated me with compassion, dignity and respect. I will never forget their kindness. I also want to thank my attorneys and everyone who has fought for me, stood beside me and refused to give up on me.Christa Pike, now 50, and her boyfriend were convicted of the 1995 stabbing and beating of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, their classmate at a job training facility in Knoxville Photograph: TDOC via AP “I don’t know why I survived that night. I don’t know what comes next. Some days, finding hope is harder than others. 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.”