A witness to Christa Pike's botched execution in Tennessee has said he will never forget what he saw in the chamber, as the state's lethal injection process was branded "torturous" and the death penalty was halted across the USA.
Pike is in a critical condition in hospital after her execution at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville was aborted when she survived two full syringes of the lethal injection. It should have taken only a few minutes for her life to end, 31 years after the murder of Colleen Slemmer, and would have made her the first woman to be executed in Tennessee for more than 200 years.
She is the only person to have survived being administered 5mg of the sedative pentobarbital, a huge dose that would normally be considered fatal.
Witness describes the scene
William Puckett, who works for Tennessee television channel WVLT, was one of seven witnesses chosen by the state to view the execution. He told the Daily Mail he is at "a loss for words" about what went wrong, while claiming one Department of Corrections staff member was "holding back tears".
There was a time period of almost an hour and a half from the curtains opening to witnesses being asked to leave, but, as Mr Puckett says, "something clearly in this process did not go right".
After the curtains were opened, witnesses saw Pike lying down on a gurney. The first injection had already been placed into her arm. Mr Puckett reported that she said "the vein in my arm feels like it's about to burst", adding that it was "throbbing". He also thinks he saw a tear rolling down her right eye.
Timeline of the botched procedure
At 7.37pm the witness reports seeing her take four deep breaths before a rock was placed on her chest four minutes later, apparently meant to be a sign a lethal injection is about to be administered. At 7.46pm the curtains closed before they suddenly opened again three minutes later.
Mr Puckett reports that it was then she began to snore before her body "abruptly" rose off the gurney. He says his last sight of Pike was when her body flexed again and she gasped, before the curtains were closed for a second and final time. At some point between the second time the curtains were closed, at 8.05pm, and the witnesses being asked to leave at 8.53pm, a second dose was administered.
Mr Puckett continued: "The snoring continued but with a noticeable squeak. And so it would be, breathe in and then squeak. You still couldn't see anything, so among the seven of us we were all trying to figure out what that squeaking was."
Pike's condition and background
An hour after the first injection she was reported to still be breathing, choking and struggling, while she still had a heartbeat. Pike remains in hospital and her lawyers said that her current condition, and the degree to which oxygen deprivation has damaged her brain, are unknown.
Pike's legal team said before the injection that the lethal injection was risky. They said she suffers from a blood disorder while her small veins created a heightened risk of complications.
Pike brutally murdered Colleen Slemmer in January 1995, with the killer believing she was trying to "steal" her boyfriend. She lured her to a secluded location with her accomplices, boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp and friend Shadolla Peterson. Pike and Shipp subjected her to a drawn-out attack, beating and cutting her with a meat cleaver and box cutter. While she was still alive, Pike carved a pentagram into her chest. The symbol was perceived as Satanic. She finished the job by smashing Colleen's head with a large piece of asphalt.
She took a memento of her victim as well - cutting off a piece of her skull and brandishing it to terrified schoolmates. Pike was then sentenced to death while Shipp avoided the death penalty. Peterson became a witness for the prosecution and admitted to accessory after the fact, receiving probation.
Pike declined her traditional death row meal, but did say what she thought would be her final words. She said: "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."
Her victim's mother, May Martinez, was among those present at the botched execution. She expressed her anger and frustration, calling it "a total mess".
