Christa Pike survived two administrations of pentobarbital during an attempt to execute her in Tennessee. Michael Graczyk, an American journalist who has closely followed nearly 500 executions during his career, described this week’s incident as unprecedented.
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Even after receiving two doses of the drug used by the state in its lethal injection protocol, the 50-year-old continued to live and breathe. She could even be heard snoring.
Pike is currently in hospital. Her lawyer said she is receiving “life-saving care.”
Graczyk, 76, worked for the Associated Press for 46 years and continues to report independently on executions in Texas. In an interview with the BBC, he said he had never previously seen a prisoner survive after the drug had been injected.
“It seemed to be only a matter of time,” the journalist said, referring to the possibility that an execution by lethal injection would fail.
Tennessee procedures call for a second set of syringes containing pentobarbital to be used if the first dose does not cause death. However, Associated Press reports show that the regulations do not explain what should be done when the condemned person remains alive even after the second dose.
Following the unsuccessful attempt, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee ordered a suspension of executions in the state and the launch of an independent review of the procedures.
64 cases of botched executions
Cases of failed executions, known in the United States as “botched executions,” are not an unfamiliar phenomenon. The Death Penalty Information Center has recorded 64 such cases since 1982, while lethal injection was used in 51 of them.
At least seven executions have been halted because of difficulties inserting the intravenous line.
Graczyk explained that in Texas, witnesses cannot see the process of inserting the IV. They enter the execution chamber only after the condemned person has been connected to the system.
According to his description, when the procedure proceeds normally, the condemned person loses consciousness within seconds of the drug being injected. Death is usually pronounced 20 to 40 minutes later.
Christa Pike’s victim
Christa Pike was found guilty of murdering 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, who was from Florida. Her family and friends remembered her as a girl who often smiled, enjoyed skating and helped others.
Authorities have said that Slemmer was tortured and killed by Pike, who was 18 at the time, and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp. The two girls had met at a job-training camp.
May Martinez, the victim’s mother, traveled to Tennessee on Wednesday to be present at the execution. After it failed, she described the situation as “a mess.”
During his work, Graczyk says he tries to keep the victims and their families at the center of attention as well.
“They are the forgotten people. They always have been,” he said.
A memory that has stayed with him for decades
One of the cases the journalist has been unable to forget is the execution of Jonathan Nobles in Texas in 1998. Nobles had been sentenced for the murder of two women in Austin.
Shortly before his execution, he began singing “Silent Night.”
“He gets to ‘Round yon virgin’ and stops speaking,” Graczyk recalled, explaining that at that moment the drug had begun to take effect and Nobles had lost consciousness.
Even after nearly 30 years, the journalist says the scene remains fresh in his mind. Whenever he hears “Silent Night” in church at Christmas, the memory of that moment returns to him.
Data from the Death Penalty Information Center show that 1,683 executions have been carried out in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. With 602 executions, Texas ranks as the state with the highest number. In 1982, it became the first American state to use lethal injection.
