Christa Pike was scheduled to be executed.
asserted
Pike → schedule → ?
But after two injections, she kept breathing.
asserted
she → keep → injections
She made snoring sounds, she talked, she said her arm was hurting.
asserted
arm → make → sounds
Doctors are now trying to save her life.
asserted
Doctors → try → life
She was critically ill and receiving "life-saving medical care" in a Nashville hospital on Thursday hours after she survived two attempts by Tennessee to execute her with lethal injections, her lawyers said, renewing scrutiny of capital punishment in the US.
asserted
lawyers → receive → US
Pike, 50, was sentenced to death in the 1990s after being convicted of a murder she carried out as a teenager.
asserted
she → sentence → teenager
Her botched execution on Wednesday at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, the second this year in Tennessee, highlights the difficulties US states face in carrying out lethal injections and finding suitable alternative methods of capital punishment.
asserted
states → botch → punishment
Pike said as her scheduled lethal injection began that she was at peace.
Strapped to a gurney around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Pike, who was allowed to give a final statement, said she was leaving the world with love.
asserted
she → say → love
“I’m ready to be free,” she said.
asserted
she → ’m → ?
Pike, now 50, was 18 when she committed the murder and would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
asserted
she → commit → years
But instead she survived two doses of the pentobarbital meant to kill her.
asserted
she → survive → her
She left the prison in an ambulance instead of a hearse.
asserted
She → leave → ambulance
An Associated Press journalist was among those who witnessed her failed execution.
asserted
who → witness → execution
She was already strapped to the gurney, with IV inserted in her arm, when prison officials raised the curtain to the execution room at 7:27 p.m.
Her spiritual adviser was standing beside the gurney near her head.
asserted
adviser → strap → head
He spoke to her.
asserted
He → speak → her
They sang a song.
asserted
They → sing → song
The lyrics were not audible, but included repeating the phrase — "I love you.”
asserted
I → include → you
The spiritual adviser stroked her forehead.
asserted
adviser → stroke → forehead
Minutes ticked by.
asserted
Minutes → tick → ?
She raised her head and looked around; she smiled.
asserted
she → raise → head
Then she said her arm was hurting and asked a prison official in the room if it was supposed to feel that way.
asserted
it → say → room
Ten minutes in, at 7:37 p.m., she sighed, the IV in her arm fed from a control room adjacent to the death chamber, separated by a ledge.
asserted
IV → sigh → ledge
At 7:41 p.m., a rock or paper weight about the size of a golf ball was placed on the ledge.
asserted
weight → place → ledge
Prison officials have not confirmed what it means, but its placement appeared to coincide with a direction in the protocol that says after the drugs are administered, a five-minute countdown begins until the curtain is closed.
asserted
curtain → confirm → protocol
At 7:46 p.m., officials closed the curtain, blocking the witnesses’ view of the death chamber.
asserted
officials → close → chamber
Pike’s spiritual adviser left the chamber and sat briefly with her attorney in the media witness room.
asserted
adviser → leave → room
The curtain rose again three minutes later.
asserted
curtain → rise → ?
The Tennessee lethal injection protocol calls for a second round of pentobarbital if the inmate is not deceased after the first round.
asserted
inmate → call → round
An hour-plus of what sounded like snoring
Her spiritual adviser returned to the chamber and stood beside Pike with his hands folded.
asserted
hands → sound → Pike
Pike appeared to begin to lose consciousness at some point and started making a sound like snoring.
asserted
Pike → appear → snoring
She continued to do so for the next hour, a sign that she was alive long after she was expected to be dead.
asserted
she → continue → hour
Her head raised slightly off the gurney and turned to the side at about 7:56 p.m.
asserted
head → raise → p.m.
She kept breathing.
asserted
She → keep → ?
Officials closed the curtain again at 8:06 p.m.
For the next 40 minutes, Pike could be heard from behind the curtain.
uncertain
Pike → close → curtain
She sounded like she was snoring, a rhythmic, regular breathing pattern.
asserted
she → sound → ?
Inside the prison, Pike's attorney, Randy Spivey, later told the media that at about 8:22 p.m. he demanded access to a telephone to contact other lawyers on the team.
asserted
he → tell → team
He said he demanded the execution be halted and that life-saving medical care be given to Pike.
asserted
care → say → Pike
He said he received confirmation at about 8:50 p.m. that an ambulance was on the way.
asserted
ambulance → say → way
At 8:53 p.m., an announcement came: “Will witnesses please exit the area.”
asserted
witnesses → come → area
The media was escorted out, and a prison spokesperson said she had no information to provide about what had happened.
asserted
what → escort → information
…and 50 more, not listed.
The Aporia
