Her legal team had repeatedly warned that her execution could go wrong. On Wednesday, they were proven right.
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They claim they followed their protocol but they clearly did not.
“So far as we know, the Department of Correction followed exactly the protocol that was outlined and vetted and approved by the attorney general’s office,” Mr. Lee said on Thursday.
“Special Operations Team Leader” and “physician”🤡 did not fulfill their roles. Steps 6 and 7 did not happen. No where in the protocol is a central line kit mentioned. It would be interesting to know the date of the physician’s last central line insertion. They had a plan B on paper but never attempted it. Even though Plan A has failed in this state and others in the past. They should practice real IVs in their practice sessions because it is clearly a trouble spot for them.
The catheters were connected to tubing that ran outside the chamber, to an out-of-view location where a “special operations team” would administer two syringes of the drug pentobarbital. At 7:34, Ms. Pike began experiencing obvious pain, witnesses said.
“The vein in my arm feels like it’s about to bust,” Ms. Pike said, though she was smiling and laughing. Moments later, Mr. Puckett said, “I saw a tear roll down her right eye, and then she said, ‘One spot is really throbbing.’”
“Mr. Spivey, the lawyer, was similarly in the dark. He did not know what was happening to his client, because after the IVs were inserted he was required to move to the witness room. Cellphones were not allowed, and he had no way to notify his colleagues on the outside of the situation.
“It took approximately seven minutes and passage through six locked doors to finally get me to a phone,” he said.
After the call, Ms. Pike’s legal team on the outside tried to get her medical attention. The governor’s office did not respond, they said. The emergency number they had been given for the State Supreme Court went straight to voice mail. Finally, they filed two separate emergency motions and were able to have a hearing, where they learned from the state attorney general’s office that an ambulance had been called.“
