The mother of murder victim Colleen Slemmer spent 12 hours in a viewing room with no food or updates before the botched execution of Christa Pike, who survived and was rushed to hospital.
May Martinez and her husband Raul Martinez Jr. had waited 31 years for the execution of Pike, who was convicted in 1996 for the January 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Slemmer was lured to an isolated area on the University of Tennessee agricultural campus. The court heard a pentagram was carved into her chest, and Pike kept a piece of her skull as a souvenir.
Long wait in viewing room
May told PEOPLE that she and Raul arrived at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution and were placed in a viewing room at 8:30 a.m. on September 30, where they remained for the next 12 hours. They had been told the execution would occur at 10 a.m., but there was a delay while judges ruled on an emergency stay filed by Pike's lawyers.
“Finally, at about 6:30 p.m., quarter to 7, they said, ‘It’s a go,’” Raul said. May intended to hold a picture of her daughter at the execution, but said she was not able to “because the execution was so messed up.”
Botched execution
Witnesses in the execution chamber said the curtains separating Pike from the viewing area closed at 7:46 p.m., but reopened three minutes later. They described Pike gasping and moaning as she kicked her bedsheet. One said: “Her mouth fell open a few times, and she began to loudly snore. She gasped a few times.”
By 8:26 p.m., witnesses reported a second dose of pentobarbital had been administered, but Pike continued to snore behind the closed curtain until the microphone was cut off at 8:53 p.m. Everyone in the witness room was ordered to leave, and Pike was later taken to hospital.
Aftermath and reaction
May said they were moved to another room and waited an hour for the commissioner to speak with them. The commissioner had little information beyond that Pike “was taken to the hospital,” but did not know “if she was going to be alive or dead.”
Pike's lawyer Randy Spivey said on Thursday: “We don't have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment. But we do know that she is alive right now.” Her lawyers claimed the failed execution amounted to “torture” and called for her death sentence to be commuted. Spivey said: “I’m haunted by last night. What I saw last night is not something that should ever, ever happen again.”
May previously told PEOPLE she almost took justice into her own hands: “If I could have gotten in that room, I would have taken the box cutter and cut her up like she did Colleen.” She does not think she will return if they try to execute Pike again. “The whole thing was yesterday was supposed to be my justice, but I guess I failed my daughter,” May said.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has paused all executions in the state and ordered a review into Pike's botched execution.
