May Martinez did not look away.
For 31 years, she carried the absence of her daughter, Colleen Slemmer, who was murdered in Tennessee when she was just 19 years old. On September 30, she traveled with her husband from Florida to witness the execution of Christa Pike, the woman convicted of the crime.
But Pike was given two doses of pentobarbital and continued breathing, with vital signs still present. The procedure was halted, and she was taken to a hospital, where her lawyers say she remains unconscious, on a ventilator, and in critical condition.
May says she felt an uncontrollable rage. She questioned how the authorities could fail at something that was supposed to be final and even said she wanted to go into the chamber and end Pike’s life herself. According to May, in more than three decades, that woman never once apologized to her or showed any real remorse.
Colleen was 19 years old, loved computers, skating, and volunteering at the Special Olympics. Her passion for computers led her to the Job Corps program in Knoxville. While the world talks about a botched execution, her mother is simply trying to keep her daughter’s story from being forgotten. How much longer must a mother wait for justice?
