American prisoner survives 'execution by poison', "pain in body and mind"... Refusal to re-execute

Krista Pike (50), a female death row inmate who survived execution by lethal injection in the United States, made her first official statement, saying, "I woke up to nothing but terrible pain and confusion."

According to the Washington Post (WP), Pike, a death row inmate in Tennessee, said in a statement to his lawyers on the 30th (local time), "I entered the execution site prepared to die for a crime that occurred in 1995, and I had found peace of mind."

“A few days later, I woke up alone in the hospital emergency room and felt excruciating pain throughout my body, hands and throat,” Pike said. “It was pain not only physically, but also in my mind and soul.”

He claimed, "I have never thought about life after that night (the night of the execution)," and "I continue to think about the terrible pain and loss the victim's family experienced."

Pike was sentenced to death the following year for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colin Slemmer with her boyfriend at the age of 18. Pike committed the murder because he thought Slemmer was interested in his boyfriend, and after the crime, he took a piece of Slemmer's skull as a souvenir.

Pike, who had served about 30 years in prison, was transported to the hospital after surviving two doses of pentobarbital, an execution drug, at a prison in Nashville, Tennessee, on the 30th of last month.

Pike regained consciousness on the 6th, about a week later. He showed symptoms of 'extravenous leak', which occurs when the drug leaks into tissues outside the blood vessels, such as his arms turning purple.

Tennessee regulations require a second dose to be administered if the first dose does not result in death, but do not specify procedures in case a person survives the second dose.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has placed a moratorium on executions until the end of this year and ordered an independent investigation into execution failures. He rejected defense requests to commute Pike's death sentence to life in prison without parole.

It is unclear whether the next governor, who will be elected in the midterm elections on the 3rd of next month, will attempt to re-execute.

Senator Marsha Blackburn (Republican), a leading candidate, has argued for quick executions and the use of the electric chair. Pike's defense team says they will fight any attempt to re-execute.