US inmate Christa Pike says she woke up 'confused and in pain' after failed execution

What the report says

US death row inmate Christa Pike has made her first public comment since surviving a failed execution attempt in September, according to BBC World News. In a statement shared by her legal team on social media on Friday, Pike said she woke up “confused and in pain” and described ongoing physical and emotional suffering after the procedure. The BBC reports that Pike, 50, had been discharged from hospital at the end of last month after surviving two lethal injections of pentobarbital, which left her in critical condition.

She has since been returned to the Tennessee prison where she has spent about 30 years. Pike was convicted of murdering Colleen Slemmer in 1995, a case that has kept her on death row for decades. The BBC says she is believed to be the only person to have survived an execution attempt by lethal injection.

In the statement, Pike said she is recovering and getting stronger, while adding that recovery is not the same as being fully well. Her lawyers had previously said she developed pneumonia after the execution attempt, had swelling in her arms and could not swallow. The case remains notable because botched executions are rare and can raise legal and ethical questions about capital punishment and prison medical care. Separately, BBC World News notes that Pike was 18 at the time of the killing, while her then-boyfriend was not executed and remains imprisoned.