Christa Pike said Friday she remains in constant pain, struggles to speak and has been largely isolated in a prison hospital after surviving a lethal injection in Tennessee last month.
Pike remains sentenced to die, and her attorneys want Republican Gov. Bill Lee to change that to life in prison. Pike remained awake for much of the lethal injection, saying her arm hurt and burned before falling unconscious.
The execution began just before 7:30 p.m. and an ambulance arrived at the prison about an hour and 45 minutes later. In a 2025 deposition released with court documents this week, prison Warden Kenneth Nelson said the execution team doesn’t practice inserting IV lines during training sessions, at the directive of the prison commissioner.
“I continue to think about my victim’s family,” she said, “and the terrible pain and loss they have endured. However, Lee told reporters this week, “I suspect her sentence will be the same as before unless determined otherwise by the courts. In a court document, her attorney Randy Spivey said the execution team struggled to get working IV lines in Pike’s arms and expressed concern that a vein might be “blowing. Nelson said he did not know why the practice was discontinued or when the order was given.
