Nashville: Christa Pike has said she remains in constant pain after surviving a failed lethal injection in Tennessee last month, but is grateful for the love and support she has received.
Pike issued her first public statement through her attorneys on Friday. She said she had entered the execution chamber prepared to die peacefully but woke up alone and confused in a hospital bed.
"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," Pike said.
The 50-year-old said she had not considered a life beyond her scheduled execution date.
"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," she said.
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Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital when Tennessee attempted to execute her on 30 September for the 1995 stabbing death of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer. Pike was 18 when she tortured and killed Slemmer with her boyfriend, becoming one of the youngest women to be sentenced to death.
She said she was grateful to the medical workers who saved her life and to those who had shown her kindness.
"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," she said.
Pike's attorneys have urged Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute her death sentence to life imprisonment. Lee told reporters this week: "I suspect her sentence will be the same as before unless determined otherwise by the courts."
Lee has called for an investigation into the failed execution and postponed the state's other lethal injection scheduled for this year.
Friday's statement was dictated to Pike's legal team from the infirmary at the prison where she is being held.
Pike was hospitalised immediately after the failed execution and was later transferred back to prison at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Centre.
