Press Conference Qa Format

Q: Can you confirm the dose of pentobarbital used? [12:00:00]

SPEAKER_07: According to the protocol, there should have been two syringes of 50 milliliters of pentobarbital, and they can do a whole second batch if they need to. This is an enormous dose of a sedative that should not ever need to happen twice, but it did.

Q: Can you tell us what the rock coming out twice signifies? [12:01:00]

SPEAKER_07: The rock came out twice. Generally, by that point, they are completely comatose. In executions I've covered so far, I was circling, she's still talking in my notes. Then I heard them say bring the clergy back in, which I've never seen before, but that meant they're going to try again.

Q: Was there a line access problem during the execution? [12:02:00]

SPEAKER_02: We don't know if it was a line access problem or not, because the way they position the inmates, you're looking at their right side lying down, but just the side of them. The IV is on their left arm, so you can't see the IV where it's placed or anything. And we also, again, don't see the IV being placed. The curtains are closed at that point.

SPEAKER_06: Yes, in the Carruthers execution they never opened the curtain. Tonight, they did open the curtain, and at least from our vantage point, it appeared that they were proceeding with the process. There were IVs in her to some degree.

Q: How long was Krista Pike visibly alive and breathing after the process was meant to be underway? [12:03:00]

SPEAKER_07: When they told us to leave at 8:53, Krista Pike was still breathing.

SPEAKER_01: By the time the blinds went down for the second time at 8:05, she was still breathing.

SPEAKER_06: The curtain was closed for the first time while she was still very clearly alive at 7:45.

Q: Can you describe what was heard and seen from the witness chamber? [12:04:00]

SPEAKER_07: She started coughing at 7:28. She lifted her head up and was looking around at one point. She said that there was a spot that was burning and hurting and asked if that was normal. None of it was normal. It went really poorly.

SPEAKER_00: She said, "I just want to say that I'm going to leave this world the way I spent most of my life, and that is with love." She said, "I'm at peace and I'm ready to go."

SPEAKER_01: We heard activity but we don't know what happened. We're not sure that's appropriate.

SPEAKER_02: When the curtains finally opened, she said her last words. At 7:34, she said, "My arm feels like it's about to burst open." Then she smiles really big. Then she starts talking about that one spot on her arm. Does this happen like that? The one spot?

SPEAKER_03: We heard multiple metal on metal. At one point, I heard a groan and what sounded like a cry. I heard what sounded like potential paper being rustling. On top of that, you could hear the velcro fastening. At 7:37, I recognize that she started to talk less, but she took four separate significant breaths. At one point, she lifted her entire head up and looked at her left arm, which also had an IV in it.

SPEAKER_08: She closed her statement with saying, "I'm at peace, I'm ready to be free." Then something about celebrating her freedom. And then she closed with, "This is a happy day." She looked towards prison officials and asked if it was supposed to feel that way.

SPEAKER_06: We could still hear her breathing, but we could not see what was going on.

Q: When did the blinds/curtains close for the final time, and what was heard after that? [12:05:00]

SPEAKER_02: The curtains close again at 8:05, and that's when they remained closed. The mic was on and she was, at that point, so when the curtains were open, she was kind of inconsistently going in and out of snores and silence. When the curtains closed the final time at 8:05, we could consistently hear her snoring and then it kind of developed into a snore squeak and then a snore.

SPEAKER_03: At 8:05 her body flexed as she gasped for air and then the curtain was abruptly drawn the second time. From there it was the process of hearing her snore in a pretty consistent pattern.

SPEAKER_08: Blinds, the curtain to the execution chamber closed for the final time at around 8:06 p.m. and she could be heard loudly snoring clearly very alive in the chamber until media witnesses were told to leave the area at about 8:53 p.m.

SPEAKER_06: At 8:05 the curtain closed, 8:05 or 8:06 right on that line, and from then until they brought us out at 8:53 ish, we could hear her loudly snoring and maybe someone has mentioned this but it was rhythmically too.

Q: Were there any unusual aspects of this execution compared to others you've witnessed? [12:06:00]

SPEAKER_07: They did two separate rounds of pentobarbital, which I've never seen before. The protocol does say that they should do a second round if the person is still alive after the first push. The protocol doesn't talk about what happens if you do this twice and they're still alive. It made it really hard for the prison system to navigate, and it made it hard for us to understand what was going on.

SPEAKER_01: We have a lot of questions about what we saw and what we did not see because there were moments when the blinds were down for us and there were moments when the blinds were up for us.

SPEAKER_02: I've witnessed, I believe, five executions in Tennessee. Nothing about today was normal, typical, at all. The court delay was just the tip of the iceberg. When we got inside, I think it was around 6:41, we got into the witness chamber. We were waiting there for almost an hour, which is unusual.

SPEAKER_03: This is my first execution that I've witnessed, and as you heard from my colleagues who are also in the room that this from the get-go seemed very out of sorts.

SPEAKER_08: I've witnessed lots of executions, but this is my first in Tennessee under this protocol.

SPEAKER_06: I don't want to repeat too much of what has already been said. My notes are the exact same as far as time goes and what the rest of my colleagues have said. I just want to emphasize a couple things: one is how much and for how long Krista Pike was speaking, and singing, and moving.