WEBVTT - Episode 8 – Mercy 0:00:01.080 --> 0:00:05.840 Hello, Allhi, man, can can you hear me? 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:08.440 I can? Okay? 0:00:08.480 --> 0:00:08.920 Goo ahead. 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:10.680 Thanks for agreeing to talk to me. 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:14.239 I'm recording this, okay, Yes, ma'am. 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:17.880 This is a phone call between Beth Carris and May Martinez, 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:19.400 Colleen Slammer's mother. 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:23.159 So what I want to do is talk to you 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:27.560 about the news, the most recent news I have. 0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:33.960 So call Monday last week, send the victims sheriff and 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:35.640 at Nashville. 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:37.480 And what were you told. 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:44.280 That they set a date for Christopher September thirtieth, She's 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:45.320 as in the twenty sixth. 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:51.080 On Tuesday September thirtieth, twenty twenty five, just before the 0:00:51.120 --> 0:00:54.840 fourth episode of this podcast aired, Krista Pike received an 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:59.280 execution date. It was set for exactly one year later. 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:01.040 Were you surprised? 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:02.720 How did you feel? 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:03.920 I very shocked? 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:05.720 Do you plan to go? 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:11.120 Yes, ma'am. Kelleen Helleen s picture of Winga. Well, if 0:01:11.160 --> 0:01:13.120 you could speak to her would today? 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:14.080 Would you say anything? 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:20.040 She don't deserve that, she doesn't deserve me to say 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:20.800 one word to her. 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:22.920 Yeah, it was She. 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:27.480 Done and couldn't face thing, couldn't even say sorry. Ye. 0:01:29.040 --> 0:01:32.839 I pray it happen. I really do, because I think 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:35.880 I can find prici to rest. 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:43.920 This isn't the first time that Krista has received an 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:46.840 execution date. Her first was set on the day in 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:50.040 March nineteen ninety six when she was sentenced. It was 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:53.760 set for January twelfth, nineteen ninety seven, the two year 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:58.120 anniversary of Colleen Slimmer's murder. That was suspended while Christa 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:02.920 appealed her sentence. Christa received a second execution date at 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:06.960 her request for August nineteen, two thousand two, though that 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:11.560 was later stayed when Christa resumed her appeals. In twenty twenty, 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:14.400 as Christa was coming to the end of her appeals process, 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:17.639 the state Attorney General asked the Tennessee Supreme Court to 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:21.560 again set a date. Following that, Christa's lawyers filed an 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:26.200 application for a certificate of commutation. Then Tennessee put a 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:30.680 hold on all executions for COVID. They were then placed 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:34.280 on an indefinite hold in twenty twenty two when Tennessee 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:39.240 issued a broader moratorium on executions. That moratorium was linked 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:43.200 to a series of botched lethal injections where inmates were 0:02:43.200 --> 0:02:47.680 observed writhing in pain in their final moments under pressure 0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:53.240 Tennessee announced it would update its lethal injection protocols. That 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:57.640 moratorium ended in December twenty twenty four, when it was 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:01.440 announced that Tennessee was prepared to reset start executions. We 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:04.960 were told that executing Christa would likely be a priority, 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:11.720 but the news was a gut punch for everyone. 0:03:12.120 --> 0:03:14.440 My first reaction, I think. 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:19.280 Was just shock, like something had taken the breath out 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:24.480 of me, very literally, and I kind of hit my knees. 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:28.960 Christa's lawyers, Randy Spivey and Kelly Gleason, recorded this interview 0:03:28.960 --> 0:03:32.440 with Christa using questions we sent shortly after she learned 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:33.960 that Tennessee had given her a date. 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:40.320 I think I maniacally screened ob tnities for a few. 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:41.680 Minutes and then. 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:49.480 Immediately started worrying about how I was gonna tell. 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:50.080 My mom this. 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:55.880 All the bad things just hit me at once, and 0:03:56.960 --> 0:04:01.080 the only thing I could think, and all the dust 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:06.040 settled in my head, was that a year seems like 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:09.400 a really long time until all of a sudden, a 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:12.320 year is not a long time at all anymore when 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:16.520 it's all you have left right now. Halloween's coming up, 0:04:17.320 --> 0:04:21.120 and that's my favorite holiday, and I'm thinking, well, this 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:25.200 is the last Halloween I ever have, you know, and 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:29.040 so like what do you do to make that count? 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:32.680 And then you know, like it's like a black cloud 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:34.240 booming over everything. 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:35.480 Were you? 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:36.440 Were you afraid? 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:41.359 I'm I'm more afraid. 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:47.320 I think of all of the I don't know that 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:53.880 I'm afraid to die, but I'm more afraid of like 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:58.479 all the the build up to it, all the things 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:02.960 that they put you through here before they kill you. 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:09.839 And that's probably worse for me than actually take in 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:11.680 my life. 0:05:12.520 --> 0:05:15.120 Is there anything you want people to know about you? 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:20.920 Or about your circumstances or about the system that has 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:23.400 held you for the last thirty years? 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:31.760 I touch an odd question for someone to ask you, 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:35.640 Is there anything that you want people to know about you? 0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:40.360 And it's like, how do I give like a summary 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:47.760 judgment of myself to everyone who doesn't know me, to 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:51.080 explain to them, like what type of person I am 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:54.680 or what I can be or want to be, or 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:57.720 who I am or what I am to like make you. 0:05:57.480 --> 0:05:58.480 Not want to kill me. 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:08.960 I'm Sarah Trelevin and this is Unrestorable Season two. Proof 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:13.520 of Life, an original podcast from Anonymous content and iHeartRadio. 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:24.680 Hi everybody, Good morning. 0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:28.479 A little over a week after Christa's execution date was announced, 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:31.720 Beth and I met over zoom with three of Christa's attorneys. 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:34.520 It's awfully cruel. Not that I want the time to 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:38.760 be shortened, but it's awfully cruel to tell someone a 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:41.640 whole year in advance to start the countdown. 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:45.520 This is Steve Ferrell, one of Christa's Knoxville based attorneys. 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:48.680 I heard a few hours later when I checked my 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:49.960 work email that night. 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:54.280 Kelly Gleeson was on vacation and celebrating her birthday when 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:55.159 she got the news. 0:06:55.720 --> 0:07:00.680 Did not anticipate this coming, cried some that night. You know. 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:03.760 Then you wake up the next morning, sort of dust 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:07.600 yourself off and play in the fight, you know, play 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:11.840 in the next steps. I, like Steve, had been trying 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:14.440 to wrap my head around the cruelty of it. They 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:18.640 come to her on September thirtieth, twenty twenty five, and say, 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:21.040 I'm going to kill you precisely a year from now 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:24.200 at ten am, and I have a blueprint for how 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:27.080 I'm going to do that, depending upon whether I'm going 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:29.880 to strap you to ajourney and inject you with poison 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:33.240 until you're dead, or strap you to an electrified chair 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:36.880 and run high current electricity through you until you are dead. 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:41.120 Randy Spivey was responsible for breaking the news to Christa. 0:07:41.880 --> 0:07:44.760 So we have had a practice over the last couple 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:47.920 of weeks of Christa calling in to listen to the 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:50.360 podcast because she doesn't have access to it. 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:54.960 Another way, Randy is talking about this podcast which Christa 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:57.760 has been listening to over the phone with her lawyers 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:01.040 or members of their staff as each new episode drops. 0:08:01.600 --> 0:08:05.440 And so she called, and she clearly had not heard. 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:11.280 I anticipated that she would have heard because sometimes in 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:15.280 the past there have been officers out at the prison 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:20.560 that have taken some joy and telling Christa news like that. 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:22.840 That was not the case this time. There's no one 0:08:22.880 --> 0:08:26.120 had told her. So she was in great mood, like 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:30.080 she was very chipper. And I told her that, like 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:35.439 I needed to tell her something. And I told her 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:39.200 that the court had had set her a date. And 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:45.320 I mean it was it was devastating, like I don't 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:48.480 I don't know exactly how to explain it, Like she cried. 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:53.160 She was very, very upset. You could hear people in 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:56.559 the back of the phone call coming to her door 0:08:56.679 --> 0:09:00.320 saying Chris stry okay, Chris of What's going on Chris Sterio, Okay, 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:04.320 I had not heard Crystal like that in a long time. 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:09.520 But the thing I can most closely equate it to her, 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:14.080 there's those audio clips of either when she was sentenced 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:17.360 to death or you know, just when she's really really 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:21.080 young and she's crying like that. That was the same voice, 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:24.199 like it was, it sounded, it was. It was awful, 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:30.959 And we talked for a while. And what was it 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:34.679 was interesting to me is how quickly she turned to 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:39.920 being worried about other people, Like it happened real fast. 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:42.679 Like one of the first things she says was, I 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:44.600 don't know how I'm going to tell my mom this. 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:47.480 Her mom had some health struggles at the moment, and 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:52.920 like really really difficult health struggles, and so she wasn't 0:09:52.960 --> 0:09:55.360 sure how she was going to tell her mom. She 0:09:55.440 --> 0:10:00.240 was she was mad that they ruined Kelly's vacation and birthday, Like, 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:02.880 she was really worried and upset about Kelly and wanted 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:04.880 to talk to her as soon as possible. She was 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:08.960 worried about Steve, and it was awful. 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:12.760 Do you feel that in your engagement with Christa, Like, 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:16.160 are you simultaneously trying to encourage her that you are 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:19.840 continuing this fight, that it's not over, but while also 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:25.440 trying to prepare her that this outcome may in fact happen. 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:28.320 So my first day back in the office was a 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:31.199 few days ago, and so Krista called for me in 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:34.360 the morning and she wanted to know where my head 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:39.160 was at. And she has a great sense of humor, 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:44.120 and so I approached the situation with humor, you know, 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:47.040 I told her I'm sorry to hear it. She was 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:50.280 upset about me hearing it, you know, on vacation right 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:53.880 before my birthday. And so I told her that September thirtieth, 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:57.679 twenty twenty six is the day before my sixtieth birthday. 0:10:58.200 --> 0:10:59.959 And so We're just going to have to win this, 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:02.640 because I'm not doing that. 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:06.880 When you're talking to Christa in those terms and you're saying, 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:08.880 you know, we're going to keep working on this, We're 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:10.920 going to beat it, Like, how do you actually feel 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:13.800 Do you feel like it's possible or do you feel 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:18.200 like the deck is stacked against against you and against Christa. 0:11:20.040 --> 0:11:22.640 I feel like the deck is stacked against us. We 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:25.960 have a governor who has never grate a clemency but 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:31.079 I feel like Christa's situation is highly unusual. She would 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:33.439 be the first woman killed by Tennessee in over two 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:36.800 hundred years, which is crazy. She was eighteen at the time. 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:41.040 She did have a severe mental illness that was undiagnosed 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:43.040 at the time and not explained to the jury who 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:45.880 made the sun the same decision. There have been failures 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:48.240 in the appellate process. I feel like we have a 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:52.560 very very strong clemency case, and I'd like to feel 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:57.160 that the citizens of Tennessee and their elected governor don't 0:11:57.200 --> 0:12:01.080 have the stomach to kill someone under these circles stances. 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:07.599 So what is the status of that petition for clemency? 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:13.000 Yeah, I mean it's in our office and with Steve 0:12:13.080 --> 0:12:16.720 and we are we're drafting it and preparing it and 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:20.120 putting together all the pieces of it. So we have 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:23.199 an execution date now. But I think there are two 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:27.280 parts to this. Like one, governors don't want it too soon, 0:12:28.160 --> 0:12:30.360 but we also don't want it too soon because the 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:33.200 world in the law is in constant flux and there 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:37.240 may be something else that comes to bear on Chris's 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:40.760 situation that's important to include in a petition for clemency 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:45.120 or that could conceivably put us back in court in 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:47.160 some way. 0:12:46.400 --> 0:12:50.400 From the time you filed the clemency petition whenever that is, 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:55.520 does the governor have a deadline or can he grant 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:59.120 or deny it right up until the time of execution. 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:06.560 The decision can come fairly close to the actual event, 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:11.600 and different states do it a little differently. In Tennessee, 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:16.079 so far, there will be an official decision one way 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:16.520 or the other. 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:23.720 Do you foresee a potential possible delay or resent a 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:26.040 new date being set because of a challenge to the 0:13:26.120 --> 0:13:28.200 lethal protocol that's in place now? 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:32.880 There are some challenges right now that are pending. 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:44.120 Starting around twenty eleven, we began to see a number 0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:47.800 of problems associated with the use of lethal injection. There 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:49.960 were a number of botched executions. 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:53.720 This is Robin Mayer, a lawyer and the executive director 0:13:53.800 --> 0:13:57.560 of the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit organization that 0:13:57.600 --> 0:13:59.280 provides data and analysis. 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:03.440 First, of all, the drugs that were traditionally used in 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:06.520 a three drug protocol for lethal injection. Some of those 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:09.839 drugs became unavailable. They were not being manufactured in the 0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:14.080 United States, and a number of pharmaceutical companies objected to 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:18.600 their use in execution, and so states began experimenting. They 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:23.120 began experimenting with different drugs, with different combinations of drugs, 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:26.080 many of which had never been tested before. 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:31.560 Robin says that what happened next was awful and entirely predictable. 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:36.640 We saw botched executions. We saw prisoners writhing in pain 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:42.080 and calling out audibly looking to be experiencing extreme distress 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:46.200 and suffering, and that was really awful to witness. 0:14:47.000 --> 0:14:50.640 Instead of dealing with the problems related to the underlying protocols, 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:55.080 Robin says that many states simply retreated into secrecy, limiting 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:59.720 the information available to the public, media and even defense counsel. 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:03.440 Many states drew the curtains shift and said we're not 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:05.360 going to tell you. We're not going to tell you 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:07.320 at all what we're doing or how we're doing it. 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:10.320 And they said that this was partly because they wanted 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:14.600 to be able to find the sources of drugs without 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:18.800 fear that those drug manufacturers would be harassed or intimidated. 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:22.000 But there's really been no proof at all that that's 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:28.200 ever happened. We saw again continued experimentation with different drugs 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:32.400 and combinations, and now we've seen some states pivoting to 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:36.720 other forms of execution, including older forms of execution such 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:39.040 as the electric chair and the firing squad. 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:44.560 According to Robin, the United States Supreme Court has granted 0:15:44.600 --> 0:15:48.800 states a wide berth declining to interfere in execution methods 0:15:48.840 --> 0:15:49.720 and protocols. 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:53.040 They have decided on a legal standard that is so 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:58.240 unattainably high that it is impossible for anyone to achieve. 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:03.120 So where we used to be was in a conversation 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:06.320 about what is cool and unusual under the Eighth Amendment. 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:09.440 But now we have a standard that again is so 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:13.880 very high and out of reach that those legal claims 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:18.200 are largely futile. The United States Supreme Court won't look 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:21.080 at those cases and has said very clearly, it's not 0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:24.760 our business. And I think that has emboldened some state 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:27.120 officials to take greater risks. 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:33.000 After a two year moratorium, Tennessee abandoned its problematic three 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:37.640 drug protocol and reverted to a single drug, pentobarbital. A 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:40.720 legal challenge file just months after the moratorium was lifted 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:43.600 in December twenty twenty four argues that the use of 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:47.600 a single drug carries a high risk of tortuous death. 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:51.640 Also like other states, the storage and testing of the 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:55.560 lethal injection drug in Tennessee is now cloaked in secrecy, 0:16:56.040 --> 0:17:03.200 despite the state's promise of complete transparency. In July, Byron Black, 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:06.399 on death row for almost forty years for the murders 0:17:06.440 --> 0:17:09.800 of his girlfriend and her two young daughters, was executed 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:14.200 after decades of efforts to have his sentence commuted. At 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:17.240 sixty eight. Black's lawyers argued that he had an IQ 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:21.640 below seventy, He had dementia, plus a host of other 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:26.920 medical concerns, including a pacemaker. Amidst concerns that Black's pacemaker 0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:29.719 would attempt to shock him back to life at the 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:32.480 very moment the state was trying to kill him, a 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:36.639 legal battle kicked off over its removal. Ultimately, the state 0:17:36.720 --> 0:17:39.760 declined to allow a local hospital to remove the pacemaker 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:42.520 prior to execution by lethal injection. 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:48.440 By every account we've heard that mister Black suffered pain 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:53.000 and suffering during his execution. It also emphasizes the importance 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:57.400 of having media witnesses in the chamber, independent witnesses who 0:17:57.440 --> 0:18:00.879 can report on their observations of the the anomalies that 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:05.160 so often occur during these executions. If we simply listen 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:08.800 to the state officials, we would have a very different narrative. 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:11.120 They often tell us nothing went wrong at all. 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:16.840 Following Black's execution, his lawyer, Kelly Henry, released a statement. 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:22.160 It reads, in part, today, the State of Tennessee killed 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:26.680 a gentle kind, fragile, intellectually disabled man in violation of 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:30.520 the laws of our country, simply because they could. No 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:33.360 one in a position of power, certainly not the courts 0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:37.119 was willing to stop them. And if you think that 0:18:37.200 --> 0:18:39.919 what happened is just about one man, you are wrong. 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:42.720 We are witnessing the erosion of the rule of law 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:46.480 and every principle of human decency on which this country 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:47.120 was founded. 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:51.399 Today it is Byron. Tomorrow it will be someone you 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:54.639 care about. The people who made this happen are not 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:58.040 telling the public the truth. They should feel shame, but 0:18:58.080 --> 0:19:02.240 they seem incapable. May God have mercy on their souls. 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:04.720 I know that he is mercy for Byron. 0:19:09.880 --> 0:19:14.640 Mister Black's attorney, who did witness the executioner herself, has 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:19.600 announced that they did get the preliminary results from the pacemaker, 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:22.640 and it wasn't the pacemaker that was the problem, which 0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:25.240 means that all of the rest of folks who are 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:28.520 set for executions should be worried that the current protocol 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:32.680 does not work. And I would not be surprised if 0:19:32.720 --> 0:19:35.720 it turned out it was pulmonary edema that we know 0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:37.960 to be caused by the way that they kill people 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:41.040 here in Tennessee that caused him to have that pain 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:45.160 for much money. He was conscious and in pain very 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:48.679 clearly for much longer than the Attorney General told the 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:49.720 court that he would be. 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:54.199 In addition to drug makers, medical experts also declined to 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:56.200 participate in executions. 0:19:56.960 --> 0:20:01.240 Medical professionals take the Hippocratic oath to do no harm, 0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:03.800 and clearly this would violate that oath. 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:07.840 Okay, I have some questions about sort of what this 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:11.440 date triggers now in terms of process. For Christa, has 0:20:11.480 --> 0:20:13.560 she picked a method of execution. 0:20:14.480 --> 0:20:18.080 That part of the process happens thirty days. 0:20:17.800 --> 0:20:22.080 Out, and how do you knowing everything you know about 0:20:22.160 --> 0:20:25.320 these methods available to her, how do you counsel her 0:20:25.320 --> 0:20:25.920 in that matter? 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:33.399 I would say, with lots of truthful information. It's another 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:37.280 very cruel part of the process. We say, Okay, here 0:20:37.560 --> 0:20:40.680 are these different awful things that you can do. Which 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:41.399 awful thing. 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:42.080 Do you choose? 0:20:43.080 --> 0:20:46.200 Krista will largely live as she has been until two 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:49.920 weeks before her scheduled execution. At that point, she will 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:53.639 enter a period known as death watch. That period of 0:20:53.680 --> 0:20:58.080 solitary confinement used to last seventy two hours. Under the 0:20:58.080 --> 0:21:02.159 new protocols, it has been extended to fourteen days. 0:21:02.840 --> 0:21:07.600 Now. They're removed from their friends fourteen days beforehand, where 0:21:07.720 --> 0:21:11.000 there's the guard station literally keeping a log of every 0:21:11.040 --> 0:21:15.440 single thing that person does. That person has allowed one 0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:18.879 hour out on a wreck page by themselves only, and 0:21:18.920 --> 0:21:21.399 then they're just monitored twenty four to seven. And there 0:21:21.400 --> 0:21:25.000 are all these things in the protocol about the kind 0:21:25.040 --> 0:21:28.960 of documentation that the guards watching have to keep, and 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:32.560 the security implements like handcuffs, change that kind of thing. 0:21:33.119 --> 0:21:36.480 But it's very unclear to me whether Christy would just 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:39.720 remain as isolated as she currently is and they would 0:21:39.800 --> 0:21:42.240 just remove the two women who are with her right 0:21:42.280 --> 0:21:44.080 now or whatever. Today happens to be. 0:21:46.240 --> 0:21:50.240 Any idea why they expanded the death watch period from 0:21:50.240 --> 0:21:52.439 seventy two hours to fourteen days. 0:21:53.400 --> 0:21:56.040 They simply say this is the way we're doing it. 0:21:56.440 --> 0:21:58.760 Right to do it that way because we're the state. 0:21:59.480 --> 0:22:01.760 It seems so punitive I mean, if there's no real 0:22:01.920 --> 0:22:05.840 reason for it, why not let them have some time together, 0:22:05.960 --> 0:22:08.400 you know, till the last day or so. I don't understand. 0:22:09.520 --> 0:22:12.440 I mean, the purpose of death watch, for the most 0:22:12.480 --> 0:22:16.560 part is to ensure that the person doesn't kill themselves 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:19.840 before you can kill them. And it would seem to 0:22:19.880 --> 0:22:23.880 me that this expanded death watch essentially makes it more 0:22:24.080 --> 0:22:26.920 likely that a person will want to kill themselves before 0:22:26.960 --> 0:22:29.320 you can kill them, while you're trying to keep them 0:22:29.359 --> 0:22:32.320 from killing themselves before you can kill them. And like 0:22:32.480 --> 0:22:38.680 the absurdity and strangeness of the whole thing, we'll really 0:22:38.720 --> 0:22:39.480 mess with your head. 0:22:40.800 --> 0:22:44.240 Taking this person out of human interactions, sort of labeling 0:22:44.280 --> 0:22:49.159 them as a dead person while they're still actually living, 0:22:49.800 --> 0:22:52.280 is all part of that that the cruelty of that 0:22:52.359 --> 0:22:55.560 process is this is not a real human being, so 0:22:55.600 --> 0:22:58.679 we can take him or her out of human society, 0:22:58.840 --> 0:23:03.240 what little society we may have allowed them over the past, 0:23:03.320 --> 0:23:07.440 however many years, and we're going to put them very 0:23:07.480 --> 0:23:11.840 literally in a cage to be watched like an animal, 0:23:12.280 --> 0:23:13.440 and then we'll put them down. 0:23:14.480 --> 0:23:18.439 I know, obviously President Trump has made no secret of 0:23:18.480 --> 0:23:24.320 his desire to execute aggressively. So where do you see. 0:23:25.280 --> 0:23:27.240 Where do you see this moment of time in terms 0:23:27.280 --> 0:23:30.360 of the state of Tennessee and the people you represent 0:23:30.400 --> 0:23:30.960 on death Row? 0:23:32.640 --> 0:23:36.680 I feel like this is a weird time sitting in Tennessee. 0:23:37.280 --> 0:23:41.560 It does feel like the machinery of death, if you will, 0:23:41.720 --> 0:23:44.760 is ramping up and we are executing more and more people. 0:23:45.880 --> 0:23:49.000 Along with Krista, three other death row inmates had their 0:23:49.080 --> 0:23:50.440 dates announced on the same day. 0:23:51.400 --> 0:23:54.520 And what's weird about that to me is like that 0:23:54.880 --> 0:24:01.040 at the political top level of things, we're not seeing 0:24:01.680 --> 0:24:06.480 more capital convictions and death sentences in the same way. 0:24:06.520 --> 0:24:09.480 It seems like the people of Tennessee. And that may 0:24:09.520 --> 0:24:12.919 be wrong about this, but it's something that gives me hope. 0:24:13.000 --> 0:24:17.560 The people of Tennessee at a minimum, find it distasteful 0:24:18.119 --> 0:24:22.600 and are certainly more judicious about this than I think 0:24:22.640 --> 0:24:25.320 they have been in a long time. That does not 0:24:25.359 --> 0:24:29.280 appear to be something that courts or politicians are particularly 0:24:29.280 --> 0:24:29.840 interested in. 0:24:30.800 --> 0:24:33.760 Before twenty eighteen, there would typically be at least one, 0:24:34.080 --> 0:24:40.200 sometimes more deathcedances issued every year. After twenty eighteen, Between 0:24:40.240 --> 0:24:42.400 twenty eighteen and this year, there have only been two 0:24:42.480 --> 0:24:46.840 descenances issued, and so you do see the trend of 0:24:47.080 --> 0:24:50.600 citizens not returning to do. I mean there have been 0:24:50.600 --> 0:24:52.600 cases in the last year or two where there were 0:24:52.680 --> 0:24:56.280 triple and quadruple homicides that settled for less than death 0:24:56.480 --> 0:24:59.439 and didn't even go to trial. And then when cases 0:24:59.440 --> 0:25:02.240 are taken to t wilders are rejecting the death penalty. 0:25:02.880 --> 0:25:04.720 But this is a dark time. 0:25:10.480 --> 0:25:13.080 Part of the reluctance of prosecutors to ask for a 0:25:13.119 --> 0:25:16.639 death sentence is a growing reluctance of jurors to agree. 0:25:17.240 --> 0:25:21.240 Concerns about systemic issues and the equitable application of justice, 0:25:21.480 --> 0:25:25.640