Christa Pike says there is ‘pain in my mind and in my soul’ one month after her failed execution

In the wake of the failed execution, a department spokesperson said that it had “followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office” and that “the lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective.”

Lee has ordered an independent review to “determine exactly what occurred” and said he was pausing all executions through the end of the year. He also announced Correction Commissioner Frank Strada was stepping down at the end of October. Strada said it was “in the best interests” 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 of a second execution attempt: “I suspect her sentence will be the same as before,” he told reporters, “unless determined otherwise by the courts.”

Lee, who leaves office in January, has declined to commute Pike’s 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.

Luke Ihnen attorney for Christa Pike. — Luke Ihnen, attorney for Christa Pike, speaks during a court hearing, on Oct. 7, in Nashville. George Walker IV / Pool via AP

Pike’s lawyers said they expect a “long legal battle” 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 “no pending execution order” and that they had not heard of one coming.

The mother of Pike’s victim, May Martinez, has said Tennessee needs to “make this right” 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, “I continue to think about my victim’s family and the terrible pain and loss they have endured.”

PRess conference. — Media witnesses recount the moments before the execution of Christa Pike was halted Sept. 30, in Nashville.George Walker IV / AP

She said she was also grateful for the first responders, doctors and nurses who “treated me with compassion, dignity and respect.”

While she does not know what her fate may be, she said she is left “searching for meaning in what happened to me” as she has become the first person known to have survived a lethal injection after the drugs had already been administered.

“I don’t know why I survived that night,” she added. “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.”

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