{"id":229336,"date":"2026-10-31T14:11:22","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T14:11:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/christa-pike-says-there-is-pain-in-my-mind-and-in-my-soul-one-month-after-her-failed-execution-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T14:11:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T14:11:22","slug":"christa-pike-says-there-is-pain-in-my-mind-and-in-my-soul-one-month-after-her-failed-execution-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/christa-pike-says-there-is-pain-in-my-mind-and-in-my-soul-one-month-after-her-failed-execution-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Christa Pike says there is \u2018pain in my mind and in my soul\u2019 one month after her failed execution – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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One month ago, Christa Pike survived<\/a> what seemed impossible: a lethal injection in which two rounds of the drug had already entered her body. Medics took her from the Tennessee death chamber<\/a> and she was placed on a hospital ventilator; she regained consciousness<\/a> days later.
Now, Pike, the sole woman on Tennessee\u2019s death row, says she is healing in a prison medical ward, but that the pain she still feels extends far beyond the physical.
\u201cThere hasn\u2019t been a moment since that night when I haven\u2019t been in pain,\u201d Pike, 50, said in her first public statement, which her legal team shared Friday. \u201cMy body hurts. My arms hurt. My hands hurt. My throat hurts. I still struggle to speak. And the pain isn\u2019t just physical. There is pain in my mind and in my soul.\u201d
Pike, who has been on death row for three decades for murdering Colleen Slemmer, a 19-year-old classmate, was discharged from the hospital and returned to her Nashville prison 10 days after the attempt to execute her Sept. 30 went awry<\/a>. Her arms were left swollen and bruised after the execution team tried to insert intravenous lines to deliver two rounds of the lethal drug pentobarbital into her bloodstream, her legal team said. Medical experts have suggested Pike\u2019s injuries could have been the result of incorrect needle insertion or the chemical leaking into her tissue.
Before she lost consciousness, she complained that her arm felt as if it was going to burst and that \u201cit burns,\u201d her lawyers said.
\u201cI am recovering, and I know that I am getting stronger,\u201d Pike said in her statement. \u201cBut healing is not the same as being okay.\u201d
Her lawyers said Pike dictated her statement, and told NBC News that she has difficulty holding a pen and speaks in a raspy voice after having been intubated.
\u201cShe is still suffering emotionally, mentally,\u201d one of her lawyers, Stephen Ferrell said. \u201cThat was a very traumatic event, and I don\u2019t know that has improved or progressed.\u201d
On the day her execution was scheduled, Pike said, she walked into the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution at peace and prepared to die<\/a> after her final days were spent saying her goodbyes to her loved ones. At the execution chamber, she told witnesses that she was leaving them in \u201cloving kindness,\u201d in reference to a Buddhist prayer her spiritual adviser had her recite.
\u201cI had not contemplated life beyond that night,\u201d Pike added, \u201cand I\u2019m deeply hurt by the incompetence that has put so many people in this terrible position.\u201d
A spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Correction on Friday declined to comment about Pike\u2019s case, and <\/strong>the office of Gov. Bill Lee could not immediately be reached for comment.
In the wake of the failed execution, a department spokesperson said that it had \u201cfollowed every step of the State\u2019s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General\u2019s Office\u201d and that \u201cthe lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective.\u201d
Lee has ordered an independent review to \u201cdetermine exactly what occurred\u201d and said he was pausing all executions through the end of the year. He also announced Correction Commissioner Frank Strada was stepping down<\/a> at the end of October. Strada said it was \u201cin the best interests\u201d of the state.
But whether the state might try to execute Pike again remains unknown, and it underscores an ethical paradox of the death penalty: that one must be considered sufficiently healthy before the person can be put to death.
On Wednesday, Lee did not dismiss the possibility<\/a> of a second execution attempt: \u201cI suspect her sentence will be the same as before,\u201d he told reporters, \u201cunless determined otherwise by the courts.\u201d
Lee, who leaves office in January, has declined to commute Pike\u2019s death sentence to life in prison. The Republican running to replace him next month, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, said that she would resume executions if she is elected and that she favors expanding the available methods. Her Democratic opponent, Jerri Green, has said she would block any execution while she was in office.
Pike\u2019s lawyers said they expect a \u201clong legal battle\u201d<\/a> if Tennessee does move forward. A judge this month sided with her defense team when it argued that the state must preserve evidence related to the attempted execution, including syringes, IV lines, drugs and personnel logs.
At the time, state prosecutors said that there was \u201cno pending execution order\u201d and that they had not heard of one coming.
The mother of Pike\u2019s victim, May Martinez, has said Tennessee needs to \u201cmake this right\u201d and not remove Pike from death row. Martinez could not immediately be reached for comment.
In 1995, Pike and two other people worked together to torture, slash and bludgeon to death Slemmer, a classmate in their Job Corps program in Knoxville. Investigators said Pike, then 18, saw Slemmer as a romantic rival.
Pike does not deny her part in the brutal killing. But her lawyers contend that other factors, such as her age at the time and her upbringing marked by years of sexual and physical abuse and neglect, were not fully understood and shared with the jury that sentenced her to death.
In her statement, Pike said, \u201cI continue to think about my victim\u2019s family and the terrible pain and loss they have endured.\u201d
She said she was also grateful for the first responders, doctors and nurses who \u201ctreated me with compassion, dignity and respect.\u201d
While she does not know what her fate may be, she said she is left \u201csearching for meaning in what happened to me\u201d as she has become the first person known to have survived a lethal injection after the drugs had already been administered.
\u201cI don\u2019t know why I survived that night,\u201d she added. \u201cI don\u2019t 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.\u201d
Erik Ortiz is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital focusing on racial injustice and social inequality.
Abigail Brooks is a producer for NBC News.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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