A media witness present at the botched execution of death row murderer Christa Pike has revealed the agonising details of what he saw inside the chamber, admitting: "What I saw will haunt me forever."
William Puckett, a journalist for television station WVLT, was one of seven media witnesses chosen by the state of Tennessee to observe the lethal injection of 50-year-old Pike at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. Pike - who was sentenced to death for the brutal 1995 murder of 19-year-old student Colleen Slemmer - survived two doses of the lethal sedative pentobarbital after executioners spent hours attempting to secure a line. She is now lying in critical condition in the hospital, receiving lifesaving care.
Witness describes the scene
Speaking about the gruesome ordeal, Mr Puckett admitted he was given no prior warning of what to expect and remains deeply traumatised by the night's events. "I was one of seven media witnesses chosen by the state of Tennessee to view this execution and the entire idea of having media witnesses in there is to make sure the process goes correctly," he said, according to the Daily Mail. "Something clearly in this process did not go right. I’m honestly at a loss for words."
"I will also tell you this. One member of the Department of Corrections, as we were leaving, was visibly holding back tears."
Pike's legal team revealed that prison staff spent over an hour attempting to establish an intravenous line, allegedly using seven needles on her left arm - one of which appeared bent when removed. Randall Spivey, a member of Pike's legal team who was present, condemned the proceedings, stating: "Last night was not just inefficient, it was cruel and it was torturous".
Details of the failed procedure
Witnesses recounted how the curtain inside the viewing chamber did not open until 7.27pm - significantly longer than the typical 10-minute wait. "When the curtains opened, Christa Pike was laying down on a gurney," Mr Puckett recalled. "We could only see the right side of her body. I could only see her right arm extended... There was a single line running into her right arm."
Pike, who chose not to order a final meal and requested an all-female execution team, offered last words of peace, stating: "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".
However, the scene quickly turned harrowing. At 7.33pm, Pike remarked: "The vein in my arm feels like it’s about to burst." A minute later, she added: "One spot is really throbbing".
Physical reactions and aftermath
While Pike initially smiled and shed a single tear, her condition deteriorated rapidly. By 7.41pm, a rock was placed on her chest - a prison tradition signifying the administration of a lethal drug dose. After the curtains were closed and reopened, Mr Puckett described Pike falling into an unnaturally heavy sleep. "That’s when she began to snore," he said. "It sounded like – if you have ever walked in on somebody who was snoring – she was in the deepest sleep anyone could be in."
Her body then began to suffer violent physical reactions, rising abruptly off the gurney before slumping back down. At 8.01pm, the rock was placed on her chest for a second time as a second dose of pentobarbital was administered. When the curtains were drawn for a final time, witnesses could still hear her strained breathing echoing through the room. "The snoring continued but with a noticeable squeak," Mr Puckett said. "Was it her breathing pattern? Did they hook up a ventilator? We could faintly hear that snoring noise until we were escorted out."
Pike was rushed from the prison by ambulance late on Wednesday evening (September 30). An independent inquiry into the execution is now underway amid fierce international backlash. Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, declared: "This event is the worst we’ve seen and unlike any other in the modern era."
Pike has spent three decades on death row for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer. Pike, then 18, along with two accomplices, lured Colleen into a woodland before beating her with a meat cleaver, carving a pentagram into her chest and smashing her skull with asphalt.
Colleen's mother, May Martinez, described the failed execution as "a mess," with Mr Puckett adding that his heart goes out to the victim's family, who have waited 30 years for closure. "They went into the day thinking that the killer of their daughter... was going to meet the sentence handed down by a jury of their peers and then this happened," he said. "Now, repeatedly, Christa Gail Pike’s name is back in the headlines, instead of Colleen Slemmer."
