النص الكامل لحلقة Christa Pike: Execution Update

WEBVTT 00:00:11.420 --> 00:00:13.922 Hello, all you true crime divas and dudes. 00:00:14.221 --> 00:00:18.600 Sarah here with an In the Headlines update on the Christa Pike execution. 00:00:19.292 --> 00:00:25.871 Tina will be back for our regular episode, or maybe another In the Headlines, as there's some wild stuff going on out there, y'all. 00:00:26.080 --> 00:00:28.966 And man, has it been a crazy week for this story. 00:00:29.213 --> 00:00:33.637 But before we get into this update, I want to give you a strong content warning. 00:00:34.168 --> 00:00:48.518 I will be discussing death penalty and some extremely disturbing details of failed execution attempts, including graphic descriptions of physical suffering, struggling to breathe, and more. 00:00:48.734 --> 00:00:54.527 If that kind of content is particularly upsetting to you, you might wanna skip this episode. 00:00:54.682 --> 00:01:03.338 So, as we reported last week, Christa Pike is on death row in Tennessee and was scheduled to be executed last Wednesday, September 30th. 00:01:03.472 --> 00:01:16.090 Her legal team had submitted a last-minute clemency petition at the beginning of September, and on Monday, September 28th, Governor Lee made a statement concerning his decision on that clemency petition. 00:01:16.540 --> 00:01:34.879 He said,"After deliberate consideration of Christa Gail Pike's request for clemency and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee, and I do not plan to intervene." At that time, the execution still remained scheduled for 10:00 AM Central Time on Wednesday morning. 00:01:35.147 --> 00:01:39.055 Christa had contacted her loved ones and asked them not to attend her execution. 00:01:39.262 --> 00:01:50.573 And May Martinez, who is the mother of Christa's victim, Colleen Slemmer, was planning on driving the nine hours from Jacksonville, Florida to attend the execution in Nashville, Tennessee. 00:01:50.888 --> 00:01:56.251 Christa would be the first woman executed in the State of Tennessee in over 200 years. 00:01:56.625 --> 00:02:09.227 However, in the 11th hour, at around 9:00 AM on Wednesday morning, a temporary stay of execution was issued by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to review her existing appeals further. 00:02:09.366 --> 00:02:20.834 That stay lasted all of nine hours when, at 6:00 PM on Wednesday, the Supreme Court vacated the stay, and the State of Tennessee was given the go-ahead to move forward with the execution. 00:02:21.054 --> 00:02:28.581 Around 50 minutes later, at approximately 6:15 PM, prison officials started prepping Christa for her execution. 00:02:29.164 --> 00:02:38.475 Now, what normally takes around 10 minutes took them over an hour trying to insert needles for the IVs, with at least seven needles being discarded. 00:02:38.506 --> 00:02:41.871 One even came out bent after it had to be extracted. 00:02:42.717 --> 00:02:53.777 And this was no surprise to Christa's legal team, who had spent months stating that a medical condition that Christa suffers from would make the standard lethal injection procedure dangerous for her. 00:02:54.951 --> 00:02:58.094 At one point, they had even put in a request for hanging. 00:02:58.355 --> 00:03:07.169 But due to the fact that hanging is not a legal form of execution in Tennessee and has not been for over 100 years, that request wasn't even considered. 00:03:07.558 --> 00:03:14.640 Now, when she was first sentenced to death 30 years ago, Christa was given a choice between electrocution and lethal injection. 00:03:15.026 --> 00:03:20.472 But at the time, she did not have any medical conditions, and she selected the lethal injection. 00:03:20.919 --> 00:03:30.038 Christa has since been diagnosed with thrombocytosis, which causes high platelet levels and causes the blood to clot very easily. 00:03:30.307 --> 00:03:37.020 Along with this clotting condition, Pike has a history of compromised veins that could literally burst under pressure. 00:03:37.288 --> 00:03:44.170 Now, should that happen, any drugs meant to enter the blood intravenously would enter the surrounding tissue instead. 00:03:44.513 --> 00:03:56.985 The particular drugs used for lethal injection, when seeped into surrounding tissue, would cause a very painful chemical burn and could also have a negative effect on a person's lungs. 00:03:57.318 --> 00:04:00.425 So let's go back to the evening of the execution. 00:04:00.618 --> 00:04:05.139 At 6:41 PM, witnesses are allowed to enter the observation room. 00:04:05.854 --> 00:04:17.548 At 7:26 PM, the curtains are opened to the death chamber, and those in attendance could see Christa Pike strapped to the gurney with an IV line already placed in her right arm. 00:04:17.841 --> 00:04:32.350 Christa gave what she thought would be her last words when she said,"I just want to say that I'm going to leave this world the way I spent my life, and that is with love." Around 7:30 PM, the first dose of pentobarbital was administered. 00:04:33.168 --> 00:04:37.716 At 7:31, Christa tells staff that her arm hurts and asks if that's normal. 00:04:38.658 --> 00:04:56.447 At 7:34, she says,"It's really throbbing now, and it feels like it's gonna burst." At 7:46, by which time she would be expected to be unconscious, Christa starts to struggle and groan and make what appear to be snoring sounds, and the curtains are closed. 00:04:56.670 --> 00:05:04.901 At 7:49, the curtains are raised again, and a second dose of pentobarbital is administered to Christa, who continues to snore loudly. 00:05:05.151 --> 00:05:07.456 At 7:51, she appears to be choking. 00:05:07.954 --> 00:05:10.774 At 7:54, she lifts her head and grunts. 00:05:11.524 --> 00:05:17.494 At 7:56, her body arches completely, and her head and legs start to contort. 00:05:18.173 --> 00:05:22.836 And at 8:05, she starts to gasp for air, and the curtains are closed again. 00:05:23.189 --> 00:05:38.476 For the following 45-plus minutes, the