Martinez said she and other witnesses were given little information in the moment. “We didn’t know anything until we got up to the office and saw the commissioner. And he said that it didn’t work, that it didn’t work, and she’s on her way to the hospital,” she said.
Asked what she would say to Tennessee’s governor and attorney general, Martinez replied: “They f***** up.” She added that Pike showed no remorse during the execution attempt.
According to AP, the procedure began at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution at around 8:00 p.m. local time. The curtain to the witness room was reportedly closed twice during the process, and media witnesses were at one point asked to leave.
Tennessee’s execution protocol calls for a second round of injections if the first fails, but does not specify what happens if the inmate remains alive after that.
