The mother of Christa Pike's murder victim has described an agonising 12-hour wait in a viewing room without food or information as the execution was botched, leaving the condemned prisoner rushed to hospital.
May Martinez, whose daughter Colleen Slemmer was murdered in 1995, was present at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution on September 30 when Pike was scheduled to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in 200 years. The execution malfunctioned, and Pike was taken to hospital.
12-hour wait without updates
May told PEOPLE that she and her husband Raul Martinez Jr. arrived at the prison and were placed in a viewing area at 8:30am on September 30, where they stayed for the following 12 hours. The execution had been scheduled for 10am, but was postponed while awaiting judicial decisions on an emergency stay request from Pike's legal team.
"Finally, at about 6:30 p.m., quarter to 7, they said, 'It's a go,'" Raul said. May noted she had planned to hold a picture of her daughter at the execution but was not able to "because the execution was so messed up."
Botched execution details
Witnesses in the execution chamber reported that the curtains separating Pike from the viewing area were drawn shut at 7.46pm and reopened three minutes later at 7.49pm. Those present described Pike gasping and moaning as she kicked her bedsheet. One witness stated: "Her mouth fell open a few times, and she began to loudly snore. She gasped a few times."
By 8.26pm, witnesses confirmed the second dose of pentobarbital had been delivered, yet Pike could still be heard snoring behind the closed curtain until the microphone was switched off at 8.53pm. All those in the witness room were instructed to leave, and Pike was subsequently rushed to hospital.
Aftermath and legal response
May and Raul recounted being moved to the commissioner's office and waiting an hour for him to speak with them. The commissioner confirmed Pike "was taken to the hospital" but remained uncertain "if she was going to be alive or dead."
Pike's lawyer Randy Spivey stated 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 legal team argue the botched execution constituted "torture" and have demanded her death sentence 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 nearly took matters into her own hands, stating: "If I could have gotten in that room, I would have taken the box cutter and cut her up like she did Colleen." She indicated she does not believe she will attend if authorities attempt to execute Pike again, should she survive. "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 suspended all executions throughout the state and commissioned an inquiry into Pike's failed execution.
