US woman who survived 2 doses of lethal injection says she's been in pain since botched execution

The U.S. woman who survived two doses of lethal injection has come out to share about her recovery, stating that "there hasn't been a moment since that night when [she hasn't] been in pain."

According to CNN, Christa Pike said in a written statement that her body, arms, hands and throat hurt and she struggles to speak.

"And the pain isn't just physical," she added. "There is pain in my mind and in my soul."

Prepared to die

In her statement, Pike said that she was "prepared to die", but she woke up in the hospital confused and in pain, CNN reported.

Pike has since returned to prison after a 10-day hospitalisation, her lawyers stated.

Pike added in her statement that she has been largely isolated in the prison's medical ward, away from others 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."

Her crime

In 1995, Pike, her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, and her friend Shadolla Peterson lured the victim, Colleen Slemmer, to an isolated area of the University of Tennessee’s Knoxville Campus.

Peterson acted as the lookout as Pike and Shipp tortured Slemmer for at least 30 minutes.

They finally killed her by using a block of asphalt to smash her head, with Pike keeping a piece of her skull.

Pike’s execution would have made her the first woman to be put to death in Tennessee in over 200 years.

Survived

Pike was scheduled to be executed in Tennessee, U.S., on Sep. 30, but she remained alive after two rounds of lethal injection.

Pike could be heard ‘snoring’ after her attempted execution before the microphone was shut off, and she was taken by an ambulance from the prison.

Media witnesses were allowed to observe from a separate room, and they saw Pike strapped to a gurney when officials raised the curtain to the execution chamber at about 7.30pm as reported by CNN.

She was reportedly speaking in full sentences as she was about to be administered with deadly drugs, and was heard saying, “My arm feels like it’s about to bust. One spot is really throbbing,”

Her first dose of the lethal drug, pentobarbital, was administered. About an hour after she was given the first injection, a second dose was administered at around 8.30pm.

She could be heard snoring until microphones were cut off at about 9pm, and witnesses were asked to leave at that time.

According to the New York Post, in Tennessee, prison officials prepare one set of the lethal injection, but have enough of the drug on hand to prepare a second set if needed.

There is a five-minute waiting period after the first set is given, during which the blinds to the execution chamber are closed.

If the inmate does not die after the first set, the second set will be administered. However, the protocol does not give instructions on what to do if the second injection fails.

The Tennessee Department of Correction said that it followed all protocols during the failed execution.

Pike is the only person to survive after receiving the drugs, the Death Penalty Information Centre stated.

Following the failed execution, Tennessee's governor ordered an investigation into what went wrong, said CNN.

Related story