- Published
Emergency call records have revealed the confusion that developed among prison staff and emergency call handlers after the execution of convicted murderer Christa Pike went wrong last month in Tennessee.
asserted
execution → publish → Tennessee
Pike, 50, who killed Colleen Slemmer alongside her then-boyfriend in 1995, was given two doses of lethal injection on 30 September.
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who → kill → September
Once it became clear that she was not going to die from the dosage, she was taken to hospital.
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she → become → hospital
The confusion resulted in part from an apparent disconnect between prison staff, according to the AP news agency, which first obtained audio of the emergency calls.
uncertain
which → result → calls
This allegedly delayed Pike's treatment.
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This → delay → treatment
The BBC has asked the state corrections department for comment.
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BBC → ask → comment
The department has not yet stated what it thinks went wrong in the attempted execution of Pike.
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it → state → Pike
Pike's legal team has offered the explanation that the pentobarbital chemical, with which she was injected, probably spread under skin rather than reaching her bloodstream in a sufficient quantity to kill her.
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she → offer → her
Pike has now been discharged from hospital, though in their most recent update on her health, her team cautioned that she faced a "long road to recovery".
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she → discharge → recovery
It is not clear what treatment, if any, she is receiving now that she is back in prison.
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she → receive → prison
Her case is now in uncharted territory as she is thought to be the only person to have survived an execution attempt by lethal injection.
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she → think → injection
Slemmer's mother, who was among those pushing for Pike to be put to death, has branded the failed execution a "mess".
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Pike → push → execution
Pike's boyfriend at the time of the murder, Tadaryl Shipp, remains in prison, having been spared the death penalty because he was not yet an adult when the crime was committed.
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crime → remain → penalty
The sequence of events on the evening of 30 September was pieced together by US media using a combination of emergency call recordings and transcripts.
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sequence → piece → recordings
The records were published in full by the Nashville Banner, external news outlet.
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records → publish → Banner
The initial call made from Riverbend Prison - which was reportedly made at 20:40 local time - was considered to have been false by first responders, after the caller was unable to verify themselves using a code.
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caller → make → code
That person seems to have been in a part of the prison where the injections were taking place.
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injections → seem → place
They said: "We've been carrying out an execution tonight.
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We → say → execution
We've administered 10 grams of pentobarbital.
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We → administer → pentobarbital
That started approximately one hour ago.
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That → start → ?
And we're calling for an ambulance."
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we → call → ambulance
The Nashville Department of Emergency Communications released records of its conversations with other local agencies as it tried to confirm whether the call was genuine.
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call → release → agencies
The confusion appears to have been compounded by other prison staff, from the institution's central command, who said at 21:07 that they "would have been the ones to call in" and that they "did not make that call".
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they → appear → call
It was not until about 21:11 that prison officials verified that the initial call, made about half an hour previously, had in fact been genuine.
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call → verify → fact
At that point, the emergency responders were allowed through the prison gates.
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responders → allow → gates
A later call acknowledged that the situation had been chaotic.
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situation → acknowledge → ?
At 21:34, as Pike was being taken to hospital, one medic asked a colleague to ensure the prison knew where Pike was being taken, "just 'cause there's been so much other confusion".
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Pike → take → colleague
Pike's lawyers are yet to comment on the recordings.
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lawyers → comment → recordings
Over the course of last week, her team provided frequent updates on Pike's condition - detailing how she had regained her ability to walk and talk before ultimately being discharged from hospital care.
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she → provide → care
It is unclear whether or when the state will try again to execute Pike.
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state → try → Pike
Some state Republicans have called for a new method to be attempted.
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method → call → ?
Pike's legal team, meanwhile, are calling on Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute her punishment to the lesser sentence of life in prison without parole.
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team → call → parole
For now, Lee has paused the state's executions for the remainder of the year.
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Lee → pause → year
An investigation is taking place into what went wrong with Pike's execution.
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what → take → execution
The head of the state's corrections department is resigning from his post in the wake of the botched execution.
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head → resign → execution
The Aporia
