A DEATH penalty campaigner who watched a double murderer meet his fate has revealed the lasting trauma of witnessing someone die in the death chamber after Christa Pike’s failed execution.
Pike, 50, was set to become executed in more than 200 years when she survived two doses of lethal injection drugs.
She was sentenced to death for torturing and murdering 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995, beating and slashing the teen before crushing her skull with a chunk of asphalt.
Her attempted execution on Wednesday night descended into chaos when two rounds of lethal injection drugs failed to kill her, leaving Pike critically ill in the hospital.
Stacy Rector, executive director of Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty , witnessed the 2009 execution of Steve Henley in Tennessee and said the experience has stayed with her ever since.
In an exclusive interview with The U.S. Sun, she said, “There is not a training manual for how you’re supposed to deal with something like this.”
Rector added, “It is very traumatic for everyone.
“We are not supposed to watch things like this. We are not supposed to experience things like this.
“We’re hearing from more and more correctional officers from Tennessee and around the country who are talking about the mental impact, the traumatic impact being a part of this has on them.”
She said those inside the death chamber may have a professional role to perform, but that does not insulate them from what they witness.
“They have a job to do. But they’re human beings,” she said.
She also revealed she personally reached out to journalists left struggling after witnessing Henley’s execution.
Henley was sentenced to death for murdering elderly couple Fred and Edna Stafford, who were shot before their farmhouse was set ablaze in 1985.
Rector had known Henley for around a decade and regularly visited him on death row before eventually sitting just feet away as lethal injection drugs were administered.
Recalling the day, she said, “It was a very surreal experience to see a person I cared about and visited for 10 years, who had become like a brother to me … watching him die.”
As the drugs took effect, Henley began snoring, and Rector closed her eyes to recite the Lord’s Prayer.
She said, “When I opened my eyes, Steve had turned blue.”
Moments later, Henley’s sister grabbed her and told her, “He’s purple.”
Henley’s daughter became so distressed watching her father die that she vomited into a trash can.
“It was pretty devastating,” Rector said.
She recalled, “I was there when he spoke his last words, when the poison entered his veins, when he began to turn blue, and when he finally was declared dead.
“That image will stay with me forever.”
Now, 17 years later, Rector has found herself fighting to stop Pike’s execution.
Rector has campaigned against executions in Tennessee since 2006 and had spoken briefly to Pike on the phone before the state tried to put her to death, stressing that the killer “was not asking for freedom.”
Pike, who was 18 when she committed the crime, had before the execution due to concerns, even asking to be put to death by firing squad or hanging instead.
Veteran reporter Will Puckett and told The U.S. Sun the curtain opened at 7.27 pm but the execution attempt was not called off until 8.53 pm, around an hour and 26 minutes later.
He said Pike began “deep” and rhythmic snoring and described seeing her body writhe and her legs move in a motion resembling “a swimming stroke.”
Puckett admitted, “I don’t know that I’ll ever forget it.”
Reacting to what happened, Rector said, “It was horrific and unfortunately, though, not unpredictable. I’m heartbroken for Christa.”
Rector acknowledged that many will struggle to sympathize with Pike given Colleen’s horrific murder.
Colleen’s grieving mother, May Martinez, had traveled to Tennessee after waiting more than three decades to see her daughter’s death sentence carried out.
Rector said, “I know that there are people who certainly feel that, and I can understand that.”
But she stressed, “This goes far beyond Christa and the trauma she experienced.
“There are a whole host of people who are impacted by what happened last night and who are going to be dealing with that trauma for the rest of their lives.”
Pike was eventually removed from the prison and taken to an off-site medical facility.
Her she was critically ill and receiving “life-saving medical care,” but they did not yet know her prognosis.
They described the failed execution as “chemical torture,” revealing Pike’s right arm turned purple and her skin blistered after the drugs were administered.
