Melissa Jenkins felt relief when Tennessee executed her mother’s killer in August. After Christa Pike survived an execution attempt on Sept. 30, Jenkins said she felt guilty, too, and questioned whether the state could morally put Pike through another attempt.
Jenkins was 22 when her mother, Catherine Jean Jenkins, was stabbed to death in 1985 while cleaning a room at the Cebon Motel in Kingston Springs, Tennessee. Anthony “Darrell” Hines was convicted of killing her and sentenced to death. Jenkins witnessed his execution after 40 years of appeals and delays, including proceedings her family hadn’t been told about.
“I do feel different,” Jenkins said. “A lot of it, I think, is because now I don’t have to worry about getting a phone call. … That in itself takes a big weight off.”
For May Martinez, the wait continues. Her daughter, Colleen Slemmer, was killed more than 30 years ago. Martinez went to the Nashville prison on Sept. 30 expecting to witness Pike’s execution, but Pike survived multiple rounds of lethal-injection drugs.
“I have to say they did fulfill their promise to my family,” Jenkins said. “And I think that’s why I feel kind of guilty, because they kept their promise to us, but they broke it to May Martinez.”
Tennessee had already abandoned another execution attempt in May, when staff couldn’t establish the IV lines required by the state’s protocol for Tony Carruthers.
Advocates with different views on capital punishment say the failures compound families’ pain. Verna Wyatt, founder of Tennessee Voices for Victims, supports the death penalty in very serious cases but says families are sidelined as cases stretch on.
Stacy Rector, founder of Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, opposes it and questions Tennessee’s ability to conduct executions safely and consistently. Both call for greater attention to preventing violence and supporting victims.
Jenkins believes another attempt to execute Pike would be morally wrong. She wants Tennessee to abandon lethal injection.
“I honestly think at this point, lethal injection needs to be taken off the table, and they need to come up with something that’s going to work,” she said. “There’s got to be a better way.”
