Victim's Mother Slams Tennessee Officials After Botched Execution
May Martinez calls the failed lethal injection of Christa Pike a 'mess' and expresses frustration over the handling of the event.
The mother of Colleen Slemmer, the victim of Christa Pike, has voiced strong criticism of Tennessee officials following a botched lethal injection attempt on Pike. May Martinez watched the execution on Wednesday evening, which was halted after two rounds of lethal injection were administered, leaving Pike alive.
Pike, 50, was convicted of torturing and killing 19-year-old Slemmer in 1995. Martinez described the event as a "mess" and stated that officials failed to communicate what was happening as Pike exhibited involuntary movements during the procedure. "They didn’t say anything and then, all of a sudden, they asked all the victims to leave. And we left," Martinez told NBC News.
Martinez conveyed her frustration in a message to the governor and attorney general, stating, "They f–ked up." She added that her stepdaughter's soul "cannot rest" until Pike is no longer alive. Raul Martinez, Slemmer's stepfather, echoed this sentiment in a Facebook post.
Pike, who was slated to be the first woman executed in Tennessee in over 200 years, is now hospitalized under guard. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced he has ordered a "comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred" and confirmed that the state's final scheduled execution of the year would not proceed as planned.