What it was like being in the room for Christa Pike's botched execution
asserted
it → botch → execution
'This is not normal,' witness reporters said as Pike kept talking long after her lethal injection
Reporter Will Puckett says he may never sign up to witness another execution after what happened to Christa Pike, but he has no regrets about being there.
uncertain
he → say → regrets
Puckett, the morning co-anchor for WVLT-TV in Knoxville, Tenn., was one of seven journalists selected to bear witness to the execution of Christa Pike, who remains alive and in critical condition despite being administered two doses of pentobarbital on Wednesday.
asserted
who → select → Wednesday
"When you agree to be a state-selected witness to an event like this, you know there's the possibility that you'll be called upon to walk people through the events that could be traumatic," Puckett told As It Happens host Nil Köksal.
uncertain
It → agree → Köksal
"And that's exactly where we're at today, is just relaying how the state of Tennessee failed to execute Christa Gail Pike appropriately and properly.
asserted
state → relay → Pike
"
Pike, 50, was 18 in January 1995 when she, her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, and a third companion lured their classmate, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, into a wooded area where they tortured and killed her.
asserted
they → lure → her
Pike and Shipp confessed to the killing and were convicted of first-degree murder.
asserted
Pike → confess → murder
Pike was sentenced to death while Schipp, who was 17 at the time of the crime, was sentenced to life in prison.
asserted
who → sentence → prison
Years later, Pike expressed remorse for what she'd done.
asserted
she → express → what
Her lawyers and supporters tried to secure a stay of execution, citing her age at the time of the crime, mental health issues and a history of severe childhood neglect and sexual abuse.
asserted
lawyers → try → neglect
Slemmer's mother, May Martinez, spoke out in favour of the execution, saying she has waited decades to see Pike's sentence carried out.
'She should not be talking'
uncertain
She → speak → execution
When Puckett and the other witnesses entered the execution chamber on Wednesday and took their seats at 6:41 p.m, a curtain and blinds covered the window, behind which Pike was strapped to a gurney.
asserted
Pike → enter → gurney
He says that state witnesses are not shown the process of the needle being inserted into person's arm.
asserted
witnesses → say → arm
It was Puckett's first time attending an execution.
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It → attend → execution
He says the other reporters, who had been through it before, told him the whole process should take about 30 minutes.
asserted
process → say → minutes
But by the time a half-hour passed, officials hadn't yet opened the curtain.
asserted
officials → pass → curtain
"One of Christa Gail Pike's objections going into her execution is that she had small veins," Puckett said.
asserted
Puckett → go → veins
"So if you listen to her complaint and go back to her medical history, you can only begin to connect the dots that they were having issues finding where her vein was to start the injection.
asserted
vein → listen → injection
"
When the curtains opened at 7:26, Pike seemed almost "jovial," Puckett said.
asserted
Puckett → open → 7:26
She delivered her final words.
asserted
She → deliver → words
"She simply said, 'I'm going to leave this world the way that I've spent most of my life, in love,'" he said.
asserted
he → say → love
"She added at points, 'I'm going to love the people who hate on me the most because they're the ones who need the most love,' ending it with, 'I'm good now.
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I → add → it
I'm ready to be free, I'm going to celebrate my freedom.
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I → go → freedom
"
She did not mention Colleen Slemmer or her crime, he says.
asserted
he → mention → Slemmer
Pike expressed physical discomfort, he said.
asserted
he → express → discomfort
"She said, 'The vein in my arm feels like it's about to bust.'
asserted
it → say → arm
One minute later, she goes, 'One spot is really throbbing,'" he said.
asserted
he → go → ?
"That's when my colleagues, who have witnessed executions before, looked at me and said, 'This is not normal.
asserted
This → witness → me
She should not be talking.
asserted
She → talk → ?
She should very clearly be in the process of dying.'
asserted
She → die → process
"
'Why are we not viewing this?'
Pike took a few more deep breaths, then gasped, Puckett said.
asserted
Puckett → view → breaths
At 7:46 p.m., officials closed the curtains again for three minutes.
asserted
officials → close → minutes
When the curtain re-opened, Pike was snoring.
asserted
Pike → re → ?
At about 8:05 p.m., officials closed the curtains again.
asserted
officials → close → curtains
"There was a bunch [of people saying]: 'This obviously is not going right.
asserted
This → be → people
What can you tell us?
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you → tell → us
Why are we not viewing this?'" Puckett said.
asserted
Puckett → view → this
The reporters did not get answers to their questions, and Pike continued to be heard snoring behind the curtain until the microphone was cut off at about 8:53 p.m.
Media witnesses were then escorted out.
Randall Spivey, one of Pike's lawyers, told reporters on Thursday afternoon that his client is a Nashville hospital receiving "life-saving medical care.
asserted
client → get → care
"Christa is alive right now," he said.
asserted
he → say → ?
"We don't have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment."
asserted
We → have → moment
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia
