Latest / Crime Alert Hourly Update / Death Row Inmate Christa Pike AWAKE, SPEAKING After Surviving Botched Execution | Crime Alert 10.08.26
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Crime Alert, hourly update, breaking crime news now.
- 0:04Speaker 2: I'm Sydney Silvoni. Attorneys for death row inmate Krista Pike,
- 0:07Speaker 2: who survived Tennessee's attempt to put her to death via
- 0:10Speaker 2: lethal injection last week, appeared in Davidson County Chancery Court
- 0:14Speaker 2: in Nashville on Wednesday as they fight an emergency legal
- 0:18Speaker 2: battle to preserve all physical, written, and electronic evidence from
- 0:22Speaker 2: her twice-botched execution. Pike has been hospitalized for nearly a
- 0:26Speaker 2: week after being injected with two ostensibly fatal doses of pentobarbital.
- 0:32Speaker 2: On Tuesday evening, her legal team reported that she was
- 0:35Speaker 2: finally conscious and speaking, though she faces a long prognosis
- 0:39Speaker 2: while receiving medical care for severe damage to her arms.
- 0:43Speaker 2: Her attorneys revealed that executioners made repeated attempts to establish
- 0:47Speaker 2: intravenous access using at least seven needles, leaving her arms swollen, burned,
- 0:53Speaker 2: and severely blistered, with one needle bent at a 90-degree
- 0:56Speaker 2: angle when removed. Calling her recovery medically unprecedented, Pike's lawyers
- 1:02Speaker 2: filed an emergency motion accusing the Tennessee Department of Corrections
- 1:06Speaker 2: of inflicting cruel and unusual punishment through deliberate indifference to
- 1:10Speaker 2: basic medical needs and reckless disregard for established protocols. Pike
- 1:15Speaker 2: was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1995 murder
- 1:18Speaker 2: of Colleen Slimmer, a fellow student at a job training facility.
- 1:23Speaker 2: Following the failed execution, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee suspended executions
- 1:27Speaker 2: for the year, ordering a comprehensive review into state procedures,
- 1:31Speaker 2: while Corrections Commissioner Frank Strada announced his resignation following backlash.
- 1:37Speaker 2: While Pike's defense attorneys are pleading with Governor Lee to
- 1:40Speaker 2: commute her sentence to life in prison without parole... State
- 1:43Speaker 2: leaders demand that her death sentence be carried out.
- 1:46Speaker 1: In my opinion, the state of Tennessee needs to carry
- 1:48Speaker 1: out the execution of Krista Pike for the horrendous and
- 1:51Speaker 1: torturing murder that she did on Colleen back in the 90s.
- 1:57Speaker 1: And that needs to be carried out in the state
- 1:58Speaker 1: of Tennessee, regardless.
- 1:59Speaker 2: Republican United States Senator Marsha Blackburn called for Tennessee to
- 2:03Speaker 2: bring back the electric chair to deliver swift justice for victims. Meanwhile,
- 2:08Speaker 2: Pike's defense counsel, Stephen Farrell, warned that the state must
- 2:12Speaker 2: start telling citizens what it is doing, stating that this
- 2:15Speaker 2: torturous execution leaves questions Tennessee refuses to answer. More crime
- 2:21Speaker 2: and justice news after this. Harrowing developments have surfaced in
- 2:26Speaker 2: New York City, where investigators believe a 23-year-old mother and
- 2:31Speaker 2: her 8-month-old infant daughter were intentionally pushed from a Bronx
- 2:35Speaker 2: high-rise in the middle of the night. NYPD officers responded
- 2:39Speaker 2: to the scene on Olinville Avenue in the Allerton neighborhood
- 2:43Speaker 2: shortly after 3.30 Tuesday morning, finding 23-year-old Nathalie Ramirez lying
- 2:48Speaker 2: severely injured behind the building, cradling her baby girl. Investigators
- 2:53Speaker 2: say Ramirez's maternal instincts prompted her to wrap her child
- 2:57Speaker 2: in a tight embrace during the fall, shielding the infant
- 3:00Speaker 2: and cushioning the impact. Ramirez tragically died after being rushed
- 3:04Speaker 2: to the hospital, while her infant daughter remains in critical condition.
- 3:08Speaker 2: A witness in the building spoke with ABC7, recounting hearing
- 3:12Speaker 2: frantic screams from Ramirez's apartment immediately before the fall.
- 3:16Speaker 3: I heard her yelling and screaming, please don't do this,
- 3:18Speaker 3: it's my baby. You know, my baby is scared, look
- 3:21Speaker 3: at her face. And that's when the next thing you know,
- 3:25Speaker 3: I hear her scream and I see something hit the ground.
- 3:29Speaker 2: Former colleagues at LeSean's consulting described Ramirez as a hardworking
- 3:33Speaker 2: and radiant gem, while friends recalled her immense joy as
- 3:37Speaker 2: a devoted new mother. However, neighbors reported a troubling history
- 3:41Speaker 2: of domestic disturbances at her apartment, including a terrifying incident
- 3:45Speaker 2: earlier this year.
- 3:46Speaker 1: It happened in January.
- 3:48Speaker 2: He was kicking the door down. Although no arrests have
- 3:52Speaker 2: been announced, surveillance video captured a man walking away from
- 3:55Speaker 2: the high-rise as emergency vehicles arrived. Deputies suspect the perpetrator
- 4:00Speaker 2: currently lives inside the apartment building and are actively seeking
- 4:03Speaker 2: Ramirez's boyfriend or ex-boyfriend for questioning. In Arizona, an Arizona
- 4:09Speaker 2: State University senior and cheerleader is facing two misdemeanor charges
- 4:14Speaker 2: following a July arrest in Tempe that her legal team
- 4:17Speaker 2: claims involved brutal police excessive force and retaliatory prosecutions. 21-year-old
- 4:24Speaker 2: Aaron Bonner was arrested around 1.45 in the morning on
- 4:27Speaker 2: July 19 and is facing charges of disorderly conduct and
- 4:31Speaker 2: interfering with police. Defense attorney Benjamin Taylor disputes the police narrative,
- 4:36Speaker 2: alleging that video evidence depicts an officer shoving Bonner into
- 4:40Speaker 2: a police bicycle, tackling her to the ground, punching her
- 4:43Speaker 2: directly in the face to inflict black eyes, and touching
- 4:47Speaker 2: her buttocks. Taylor states Bonner was simply trying to speak
- 4:50Speaker 2: with officers and tell them her boyfriend did nothing wrong
- 4:53Speaker 2: after police pushed him to the ground after leaving a restaurant.
- 4:57Speaker 2: Tempe police offer a contrasting account in their report, claiming
- 5:01Speaker 2: Bonner repeatedly intervened while officers broke up a fight and
- 5:05Speaker 2: struck an officer on the left side of his face
- 5:07Speaker 2: five or six times before the officer delivered a blow
- 5:10Speaker 2: to her face to stop her. While the Maricopa County
- 5:13Speaker 2: Attorney's Office declined felony charges and an initial misdemeanor case
- 5:17Speaker 2: was dismissed, Tempe prosecutors refiled new misdemeanor charges months later.
- 5:23Speaker 2: Attorney Taylor argues these new charges represent a retaliatory tactic
- 5:28Speaker 2: designed to prevent a civil lawsuit after Bonner reported being
- 5:31Speaker 2: groped and battered by the arresting officer. Bonner was held
- 5:35Speaker 2: in custody for nearly 24 hours before receiving hospital treatment
- 5:39Speaker 2: and has pleaded not guilty ahead of her November 4th
- 5:42Speaker 2: pretrial conference in Tempe City Court, as distraught family members
- 5:46Speaker 2: and community supporters rallied behind her. For more crime and
- 5:50Speaker 2: justice news, be sure to join us for Crime Stories
- 5:52Speaker 2: with Nancy Grace on Fox 1, YouTube, Sirius XM, and
- 5:56Speaker 2: now streaming on Tubi. With this crime alert, I'm Sydney Silvani.