Christa Pike: What Happened Inside the Execution Chamber

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

This is Hidden Killers Live with Tony Brueski and Robin Drake.

Tony Brueski (0:08)

Let's continue on our conversation with another big thing that's happened this week. We're looking at an absolute failure of the justice system, and it played out in real time inside a Tennessee execution chamber. Surprise! Wednesday night, the state attempted to execute Christa Pike, who brutally murdered 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer back in 1995 Instead of delivering justice, the state bungled it horrifically.

Pike was given two lethal injections. She survived both, snoring. Witnesses reported she was breathing, complaining about the burning sensation in her arm. And yes, like I said, snoring, before they finally gave up and called an ambulance. Governor Bill Lee has now halted all executions.

We have to ask the hard questions here. How? How? How and why does the state government with these resources fail this spectacularly? You had one job!

Is this just gross, bureaucratic incompetence or is there a quiet medical sabotage happening behind the scenes? I don't know the answer to this question. Joining us to discuss retired FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffendaffer and retired FBI Special Agency for the Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program and master class instructor Robin Drake. The state government had years to prepare for this. Access to strict medical protocols, specialized staff. How does the ultimate punishment fail? Not once, but twice. While the inmate is literally snoring on the table. Jen, I know you got thoughts.

Jennifer Coffendaffer (1:51)

I have thoughts here. So, and I'm going to put on my tactical MediCat.

Tony Brueski (1:58)

All right.

Jennifer Coffendaffer (2:01)

These individuals who are administering this, and it's about a 7% or 93% success rate in administering lethal injections, which in my opinion is pathetic. It should never be 93% that you're walking in there and you're like, man, I mean, that's close to 10% failure rate. They're going, man, I wonder if this is going to work.

Firing squads, by the way, are 100% successful.

Robin Drake (2:31)

That's what I was thinking.

Jennifer Coffendaffer (2:32)

Yeah. You can't miss. It's the way to go. It's why Utah changed or Idaho, excuse me, changed the firing squad. When you look at, just imagine, your firing squad, you've got expert shooters. They're in close range pretty much, I mean, for a rifle, and nobody knows who has the blank. So it's great for them because they don't know necessarily that they took the life. You fire straight into there and it's done. It's done. You're not going to survive that.

Here with this, this is the reason. They do not use phlebotomists.

They literally use staff. Now they brought in a doctor. I will tell you from working in the ambulance, working in the ER, all the classes I've taken, becoming a tactical medic, they don't know how to stick anyone. They never do it. Doctors don't do it. They oversee the overall health of the patient, what should happen, what shouldn't, give them an IV.

They're over here. Then you have the phlebotomists, the nurses, the anesthesiologists, that are really good at finding veins. For those of you in the audience that have ever given blood, you know when you go into the new one and they're screwing around with your vein. Now, look, I don't know if you can see these. I've got veins the size of freaking large spaghetti noodles. They are huge poking out of my skin.

Tony Brueski (4:09)

It might be fettuccine there after.

Jennifer Coffendaffer (4:11)

I'm telling you. I walk in and they're like.

Tony Brueski (4:15)

I'm seeing rigatoni, Jen. I got rigatoni.

Jennifer Coffendaffer (4:20)

I don't have angel hair.

And so other people have them down below the skin. They can't find them. And have you ever seen those people? I feel terrible. They're next to me giving blood and they're like, Oh, we've almost gone, you know. Yeah. You know, screwing around. That's literally the situation I think you have here. Now, I have researched. I've tried to find. I can't find because I'm never going to find who actually was the executioner, because that is hidden and we don't know. But I can tell you, generally, it is literally a staff person.

Robin Drake (4:58)

Yes.

Jennifer Coffendaffer (5:00)

Overseen by doctor.

So you literally have some moron, sorry, moron when it comes to putting a needle into a vein that's dropped to find the vein. So they're squeezing now this phenobarbital, and God knows, I'm sure they just missed it. And it's like going, and that's why she said, oh, my arm hurts because it's all like all over here in the arm. Now people are saying, oh, her vein collapsed and this and that. My belief is from experience, because it's really hard when you learn this, you got to find the vein, it's hard.