Pike, 50, was given two doses of pentobarbital during the execution attempt on September 30 in Tennessee but survived. She was hospitalized in critical condition and later returned to the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center. Her lawyers said she had suffered from pneumonia, significant swelling on her arms, and difficulty swallowing.

Pike said she entered the execution chamber prepared to die but awoke alone and confused in a hospital bed. “I had not contemplated life beyond that night,” she said. “I’m deeply hurt by the incompetence that has put so many people in this terrible position.” She also expressed sympathy for the family of her victim, Colleen Slemmer, whom she and her boyfriend tortured and killed in 1995 when Pike was 18.

Pike’s attorneys have urged Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute her death sentence to life imprisonment. Lee said, “I suspect her sentence will be the same as before unless determined otherwise by the courts.” He has paused all executions in Tennessee for the remainder of the year and ordered an independent review.

Bethany Mann, a friend of Pike and founder of Child Arise Tennessee, said she had been in direct contact with Pike since the botched execution. She praised Pike’s statement as “powerful” and said she wanted to respect her privacy. Mann also criticized Governor Lee for not reconsidering the death penalty itself, rather than just the execution process. “What happened to Christa is not an isolated tragedy,” she said.

May Martinez, the mother of Colleen Slemmer, attended the botched execution and later told a Florida-based ABC affiliate that she believes the state owes her an apology. “All I wanted was justice,” Martinez said.

Pike was the first woman scheduled to be executed in Tennessee in over 200 years. Her lawyers have spent decades appealing her case. In the days leading up to her scheduled execution, both the U.S. Supreme Court and Lee declined to block the execution. The Tennessee Department of Correction has not explained why the execution did not go as planned and has defended the method it used.