A reporter who witnessed the botched execution of convicted murderer Christa Pike has described the moment officials realized something had gone seriously wrong.
Pike, 50, was scheduled to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years on Wednesday. Instead, after two failed attempts to carry out the execution, she was taken to hospital.
Will Puckett, one of only seven media witnesses present, told The US Sun that the warning signs emerged as the group waited for the curtain to open. Nearly an hour had passed when a colleague with extensive experience witnessing executions leaned over and told him, “It should not be taking this long for the curtains to open. Something’s going wrong.”
Puckett described the scene inside Nashville’s Riverbend Maximum Security Institution as “surreal,” saying the failed execution left him “at a loss for words.”
Pike’s attorneys said Thursday that she was in critical condition in hospital and receiving lifesaving treatment.
Her lawyer, Randy Spivey, said Pike had been strapped to the execution table for an hour while medical staff attempted to insert at least seven needles. One needle was reportedly bent when it was removed from her arm.
