A witness to the botched execution of death row inmate Christa Pike has described the ordeal, saying her arm felt like it was 'about to burst' before she was heard snoring on the gurney.
The 50-year-old had been in solitary confinement for over 30 years for the 1995 torture and murder of her classmate, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, with her then-boyfriend. Pike's execution at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville should have taken just a few minutes, and would have made her the first woman executed in Tennessee in over 200 years.
Witness recounts Pike's final words and distress
Before the attempt, Pike delivered what she thought would be her last words, saying: 'I'm going to leave this world the way I spent most of my life, and that is in love. I'm good now. I'm at peace. I'm ready to be free. I'm going to celebrate my freedom. This is a good day.'
William Puckett, from East Tennessee news station WVLT, was one of seven media witnesses chosen by the state to view the execution. He told the Daily Mail that when the curtains opened, Pike was 'lying down on a gurney'. Puckett said he could only see the right side of her body, with a single line running into her right arm, likening it to 'giving blood at the Red Cross.'
Around five minutes after the curtains opened, at 7.33pm, Puckett recalled Pike saying: 'The vein in my arm feels like it's about to burst.' One minute later, she said 'One spot is really throbbing.' Puckett said there was 'no panic' in her voice, and she continued to blink, smile, and let out a couple of laughs. He saw a tear rolling down her right eye.
Execution attempt fails
At 7.37pm, Puckett said Pike took 'four extremely deep breaths.' Three minutes later, he recalled a rock being placed on her chest, reportedly signaling that the final dose had been administered. At 7.46pm, the curtains closed, but three minutes later they opened again, and Pike began to snore. Her body then began to move, and her snoring continued 'but with a noticeable squeak.'
When witnesses were escorted out just after 8pm, Puckett said they could still 'faintly hear that snoring noise.' He told the outlet that the 'entire idea of having media witnesses in there is to make sure the process goes correctly,' adding: 'Something clearly in this process did not go right.'
It was later reported that Pike had seven needles used in her left arm, one of which appeared to be bent when removed. Randall Spivey, one of her attorneys, called the attempt 'cruel' and 'torturous,' and said he watched prison staff take an hour trying to establish an IV line. Pike was taken to hospital in a critical condition, where her lawyers said she was receiving care. Spivey said: 'Christa is alive right now. We don't have a sense of her prognosis. She is in a critical condition receiving lifesaving care.'
Witnesses and victim's family affected
Puckett also said that after leaving the witness room, one Department of Corrections member was 'visibly holding back tears.' The Daily Mail reported that other witnesses, including one who had seen five previous executions, said 'nothing about today [the execution] was normal.'
Despite the failure, Puckett stated that people should still remember Slemmer and her family. 'There were family members of Colleen Slemmer who have waited 30 years to see this sentence carried out. They too viewed all of this,' he said. 'They went into the day thinking that the killer of their daughter, their niece, their aunt, their loved one, was going to meet the sentence handed down by a jury of their peers and then this happened and now, repeatedly, Christa Gail Pike's name is back in the headlines, instead of Colleen Slemmer who was killed at the hands of Pike and two others.'
