Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike, who survived a botched execution on September 30, said in her first public statement that she is in constant physical and mental pain and largely isolated in a prison hospital ward. A Tennessee judge has ordered evidence preservation, and Governor Bill Lee suspended all executions for the rest of the year pending investigation.
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She was released from the hospital and sent to the Johnson center on October 10, days after her lawyers said she had regained consciousness and was speaking.
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In a statement released on Friday by her lawyers, to whom she dictated it
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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.
To know that so many people care about me, that they see me as a human being whose life matters, is something I cannot fully put into words.
first of many steps to preserve and enforce her constitutional rights
unless determined otherwise by the courts
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Her isolation was causing mental pain by reminding her of the 28 years she spent in solitary confinement.
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housed for over 30 years after her conviction for a 1995 murder.
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A Tennessee judge has ordered state officials to preserve all evidence related to their failed attempt to execute her
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Tennessee Governor Bill Lee suspended all executions for the rest of the year while investigators look into the botched execution of Pike and a similar failure in May involving another inmate.
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