Christina Marie Riggs
Encyclopedia
Christina Marie Riggs was a murder
er executed in Arkansas
by lethal injection
. She was convicted of the November 4, 1997, murder
of her two preschool-aged children, Justin and Shelby Alexis Riggs, in their beds at the family's Sherwood
, Arkansas
, home. Her plan to murder her children involved giving them undiluted potassium chloride
just after giving them Elavil
to sedate them. However, the potassium chloride was not diluted properly and it burned her son's veins, causing Justin terrible pain but not death. She eventually smothered him, when the injection was ineffective. She then smothered her daughter Shelby, without injecting her, after seeing the pain that the drug caused Justin. She took the children, and laid them on her bed, covered them with a blanket, and wrote suicide notes. She then attempted to commit suicide by taking twenty-eight Elavil pills, and injecting herself with undiluted potassium chloride. Nineteen hours later, Riggs' mother discovered her unconscious, but still alive, on the floor of her home.
Christina was suffering from a very deep depression and apparently did not want to have her children split up after her own suicide. The children had different fathers.
At her June 1998 trial, Riggs contended she was not guilty by reason of insanity, but the Pulaski County jury convicted her. During the penalty phase, Riggs would not allow attorneys to put on a defense, saying she wanted a death sentence. Coincidentally, she was executed with a potassium chloride injection
, the same substance with which she attempted to kill her children.
Riggs was placed in the Arkansas Department of Correction system and held at the McPherson Unit
, which included the female death row, until her execution. The Arkansas execution chamber is located at the Cummins Unit
.
On Sunday April 30, 2000, Riggs was flown from McPherson to Cummins in preparation for her execution. Riggs was the fifth woman executed in the United States since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. She was also the first woman executed in Arkansas since 1845. Her last words were: "There is no way no words can express how sorry I am for taking the lives of my babies. Now I can be with my babies, as I always intended." She also said, "I love you, my babies."
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
er executed in Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
by lethal injection
Lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting a person with a fatal dose of drugs for the express purpose of causing the immediate death of the subject. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broad sense to euthanasia and suicide...
. She was convicted of the November 4, 1997, murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
of her two preschool-aged children, Justin and Shelby Alexis Riggs, in their beds at the family's Sherwood
Sherwood, Arkansas
Sherwood is a city in Pulaski County, Arkansas, United States, and a suburb of Little Rock. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 29,523...
, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
, home. Her plan to murder her children involved giving them undiluted potassium chloride
Potassium chloride
The chemical compound potassium chloride is a metal halide salt composed of potassium and chlorine. In its pure state, it is odorless and has a white or colorless vitreous crystal appearance, with a crystal structure that cleaves easily in three directions. Potassium chloride crystals are...
just after giving them Elavil
Amitriptyline
Amitriptyline is a tricyclic antidepressant . It is the most widely used TCA and has at least equal efficacy against depression as the newer class of SSRIs...
to sedate them. However, the potassium chloride was not diluted properly and it burned her son's veins, causing Justin terrible pain but not death. She eventually smothered him, when the injection was ineffective. She then smothered her daughter Shelby, without injecting her, after seeing the pain that the drug caused Justin. She took the children, and laid them on her bed, covered them with a blanket, and wrote suicide notes. She then attempted to commit suicide by taking twenty-eight Elavil pills, and injecting herself with undiluted potassium chloride. Nineteen hours later, Riggs' mother discovered her unconscious, but still alive, on the floor of her home.
Christina was suffering from a very deep depression and apparently did not want to have her children split up after her own suicide. The children had different fathers.
At her June 1998 trial, Riggs contended she was not guilty by reason of insanity, but the Pulaski County jury convicted her. During the penalty phase, Riggs would not allow attorneys to put on a defense, saying she wanted a death sentence. Coincidentally, she was executed with a potassium chloride injection
Lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting a person with a fatal dose of drugs for the express purpose of causing the immediate death of the subject. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broad sense to euthanasia and suicide...
, the same substance with which she attempted to kill her children.
Riggs was placed in the Arkansas Department of Correction system and held at the McPherson Unit
McPherson Unit
McPherson Unit is a prison for women of the Arkansas Department of Correction, located in Newport, Arkansas, off of Arkansas Highway 384, east of central Newport. Established in 1998, the prison houses the state's death row for women....
, which included the female death row, until her execution. The Arkansas execution chamber is located at the Cummins Unit
Cummins Unit
The Cummins Unit is an Arkansas Department of Correction prison in unincorporated Lincoln County, Arkansas, United States. It is located along U.S. Route 65, near Grady, Gould, and Varner, south of Pine Bluff, and southeast of Little Rock.This prison farm is a correctional facility...
.
On Sunday April 30, 2000, Riggs was flown from McPherson to Cummins in preparation for her execution. Riggs was the fifth woman executed in the United States since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. She was also the first woman executed in Arkansas since 1845. Her last words were: "There is no way no words can express how sorry I am for taking the lives of my babies. Now I can be with my babies, as I always intended." She also said, "I love you, my babies."
See also
- Capital punishment in the United StatesCapital punishment in the United StatesCapital punishment in the United States, in practice, applies only for aggravated murder and more rarely for felony murder. Capital punishment was a penalty at common law, for many felonies, and was enforced in all of the American colonies prior to the Declaration of Independence...
- Capital punishment in ArkansasCapital punishment in ArkansasCapital punishment is legal in the U.S. state of Arkansas. Since 1820, a total of 504 individuals have been executed. According to the Arkansas Department of Correction, as of December 22, 2008, a total of 40 men were under a sentence of death in the state....
- List of females executed in the United States