Christa Pike describes constant pain after surviving failed Tennessee execution

Tennessee attempted to execute Christa Pike on September 30, but she survived two doses of pentobarbital, according to Euronews.

Pike was sentenced to death for torturing and killing her classmate Colleen Slemmer in 1995, when Pike was 18, Euronews reported. Slemmer was 19, according to Global News.

After the failed execution on September 30, Pike woke up alone and confused in a hospital days later, according to her account reported by DIE WELT.

On October 29, Governor Bill Lee signaled that Pike's death sentence would likely remain unchanged despite the failed execution, the New York Post reported. That was an indication of his position, rather than an announcement that her sentence had changed.

On October 30, Pike released her first public statement since the execution attempt. She said she was in constant physical and mental pain, according to Sky News. "I'm deeply hurt by the incompetence," she said.

"There hasn't been a moment since that night when I haven't been in pain," Pike said, according to CNA. The South China Morning Post also reported that she struggled to speak.

Pike expressed gratitude for the love and support she had received, according to KYTV. CBC News reported that she said she was getting stronger, despite the continuing pain.

Pike is recovering in isolation in the infirmary at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, where she has been held for decades, according to CBS Top Stories.

Her living conditions are now part of a separate court request. TMZ reported on October 30 that Pike was asking a federal judge to get her out of solitary confinement.

Her lawyers want her death sentence reduced to life, while the governor has ordered an investigation into the failed execution, Deutsche Welle reported. The supplied coverage does not establish why the lethal injections failed.

The investigation's findings and the response to her lawyers' request for a life sentence remain unresolved in the coverage. Lee's indication that the sentence will likely stand does not settle the lawyers' request, as reported by Deutsche Welle and the New York Post.

A separate question is whether a federal judge will change Pike's confinement conditions. TMZ reported her request, but the supplied coverage gives no ruling.