Tennessee inmate still alive after being administered two lethal injections, her lawyer says

12 days ago by MicroWave to c/news

Christa Pike, 50, was 18 when she murdered a classmate. She would be the first woman the state has executed in more than 200 years.

The lone woman on Tennessee’s death row was still alive after she was administered two lethal injections, her lawyer said in a motion seeking to halt her execution Wednesday night, a stunning development after the Supreme Court had stepped in to allow the state to put her to death.

At 8:26 p.m. local time, witnesses said “executioners had injected both syringes of lethal injection chemicals” and Christa Pike was “still alive and snoring,” her lawyers said in a federal court filing.

They said Pike “has not lost consciousness and still has a heartbeat” and that curtains to the death chamber “have gone down twice.”

kurmudgeon 213 points 11 days ago

This fiasco has been nothing but cruel and unusual punishment over and over again for this woman for a matter that should have been settled 30 years ago. Southern states make me sick - led by the "party of life" my ass. They don't give a single shit about "life" once that person is born.

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13igtyme 98 points 11 days ago

Common misunderstanding. They don't give a shit about the unborn. It's all for show and to punish.

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BooBees 16 points 11 days ago

Just a few follow up questions about the subject will show it’s mostly about punishing and controlling women.

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whyNotSquirrel 12 points 11 days ago

it's always easy to speak for something that isn't born yet

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deadbeef79000 42 points 11 days ago

nothing but cruel and unusual punishment

System is working as designed.

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W98BSoD 1 point 10 days ago

They’re pro-birth, not pro-life.

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Tollana1234567 1 point 10 days ago

conservative voters are obsessed with executions, they love it.

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dharmacurious 175 points 11 days ago

Every single thing about her case from the time of her arrest until now has been a complete fustercluck, it's no surprise the execution didn't work.

She literally told them, her lawyers literally told them, that she has a medical condition that will prevent the lethal injection drugs from working, but they're so hell bent on murdering her that they could not just let her spend her life in prison. Yes, she brutally killed that girl, but the other two people who also brutally murdered that girl got life in prison for one, AND PAROLE for the other.

I'm not suggesting she's innocent. She's not. But why does every court have such a hard on for killing the woman? Abolish the death penalty, and do not give the state the right to kill it's citizens. Please.

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FirstCircle 52 points 11 days ago

why does every court have such a hard on for killing the woman

Because every hillbilly chucklehead in the state has a hard on for the death penalty.

JFC.

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dharmacurious 26 points 11 days ago

That's fair. But it's not just the Tennessee courts. She's taken her case to the US supreme court multiple times.

And yeah, Tennessee can be conservative as fuck, and the education system leaves almost everything to be desired, but I lived there, 30 minutes from Knoxville, for 15 years. Most people are pretty against the death penalty anymore, at least most everyone I spoke to about it. And considering I did political organizing, I spoke to a lot of people of differing opinions. It's actually one of the hooks we used to use when trying to convince people about more progressive or lefty policies. Start with the death penalty, as it's normally the easiest way to get someone to the point of agreeing that they don't always align with their political party or candidate

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yeahiknow3 19 points 11 days ago

People are often in favor of the theoretical death of evil humans, but the bureaucracy of administering the death penalty is too ridiculous and impractical.

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im_fine_sandy 9 points 11 days ago

On some issues the opinions of citizens are important, but in others I think citizens generally aren't equipped to make a decision.

Another example might be taxes, or how much tax ought to be paid. Loads of people might vote to say they shouldn't have to pay taxes, but very obviously they're wrong.

American's in particular seem ill equipped to separate the fact that someone may well "deserve" to die from the notion that delivering that death is not the best outcome for anyone.

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captainlezbian 2 points 10 days ago

Wow things have changed or are different there. I remember the death penalty being pretty dang popular when I was younger

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dharmacurious 1 point 10 days ago

It's still popular, until you start talking to them about it, or individual cases. People are generally "in favor" until they actually think about it for too long

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Tollana1234567 29 points 11 days ago

CONSERVATIVES fatansize about executions all the time, thats why. executions are red states way of placating the rabid voters.

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quill7513 19 points 11 days ago

it's strongman politics. once a jury has condemned a prisoner to death, the whole dynamic surrounding their case shifts. no longer are they a person whose life carries value, even if that value is complicated by their actions. they become a shibboleth upon which every strongman politician must prove that they are not soft on crime. none of these appeals have taken into consideration the real facts of the case or the woman, but have been treated as an opportunity to prove to authoritarian supporters that this lawyer, this judge, this executive, whoever is able to step in, but doesn't, to set things right is a big strong man that you should worship as a big strong man, and that they perform the role of big authoritarian daddy with aplomb.

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LadyButterfly 23 points 11 days ago

She also had serious MH issues at the time. Was she given adequate psych assessment before sentence? Was it fully taken into account in sentence or the decision to go ahead with execution?

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im_fine_sandy 10 points 11 days ago

Apparently not.

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Akasazh 14 points 11 days ago

What is the medical condition and went does it prevent the legal drugs from working?

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dharmacurious 21 points 11 days ago

She has a condition that causes blood clotting, some kind of thrombosis. Her lawyers told the courts that it could cause the injections to fail.

Other commenter is also correct. She was raped multiple times, and asked for a hanging instead of an injection because 1, she believes a botched hanging would be less awful a way to die than a botched lethal injection, and 2, because being strapped to a gurney (effectively tied to a bed) and surrounded by men and watched by strangers would be incredibly psychologically painful to her. The woman declined a last meal before they did this, id imagine she was too distraught to eat.

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Akasazh 10 points 11 days ago

Oh wow.

Thanks for the write up, however depressing

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im_fine_sandy 9 points 11 days ago

Everything I have read says that she wanted another method of execution because strapping her to a guerney will trigger a PTSD episode.

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dharmacurious 12 points 11 days ago

That, yes. But also she has a blood clotting condition that her and her lawyers believed would make the injections fail to work correctly.

And we can see that's what happened. Whether it's because of the blood clots or not, I can't say. But it sounds like they were spot on.

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yeahiknow3 0 points 11 days ago
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Kangae_Hishiryo -3 points 10 days ago

But why does every court have such a hard on for killing the woman?

Literally most deaths by execution in the US are suffered by males (1665), not by females (18). Just fucking stop that "women always suffer more than men" bullshit, because it's not true.

Abolish the death penalty, and do not give the state the right to kill it's citizens. Please.

I'm with you here, however.

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dharmacurious 2 points 10 days ago

At no point did I say more women were murdered by the death penalty. I rhetorically inquired why the courts have such a hard on for killing this singular individual woman

Gonna just leave that there, because I genuine don't want to get into why you were so quick to jump to the phrasing you used, or make assumptions about you based on that.

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TropicalDingdong 73 points 11 days ago

Jesus fucking Christ this is a country of sociopaths.

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belluck 2 points 11 days ago
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lastlybutfirstly -5 points 11 days ago

I'm against the death penalty because I think it debases our society, but I wouldn't say we're sociopaths. Have you read up on what this woman did? She tortured a girl for hours, bashed her skull in with a rock, then carried a piece of the skull in her pocket, showed it to friends and bragged about the murder.

If she was a billionaire who opened up a datacenter, you all would be yelling "Botch it again!"

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TropicalDingdong 14 points 11 days ago

She tortured a girl for hours, bashed her skull in with a rock, then carried a piece of the skull in her pocket, showed it to friends and bragged about the murder

Seems sociopathic.

I also think this weird "tit for tat" obsession with what amounts to a medieval concept of justice is also sociopathic. That because someone has killed, that some how killing them undoes the initial injustice, well, its sociopathic. There is also ample evidence that it doesn't accomplish any of is purported goals. A society, the response to a killing is to create more killing?

Seems sociopathic.

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samus12345 11 points 11 days ago

"Killing people is wrong, so we're going to kill you."

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TropicalDingdong 5 points 11 days ago

Its a fundamentally reactionary tautology. Laws serves to protect but does not bind. Because I'm the one engaging in the behavior I have a problem with others doing, its fine.

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lastlybutfirstly 1 point 11 days ago

I totally agree with you on everything except for characterizing human desire for revenge and justice as sociopathy. Sure, it's barbaric and beneath a civilized society, but they're not the same.

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TropicalDingdong 9 points 11 days ago

I don't know what else to call it then, when a society collectively engages in a behavior we would individually characterize as sociopathic. And sure, there are degrees to these things, but the woman isn't roaming the streets continuing to kill. She's already behind bars and has been for decades. If you believe such a thing as justice exists, it was served long, long ago. Whatever this society is engaging in, its not justice, and its closer to what the accused did that it is to whatever could undo what the accused did.

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Kangae_Hishiryo 0 points 10 days ago

Hell naw, what doesn't work is the "let's give him a free five-stars hotel with everything included". Just basic psychology: if you teach them that what they'll get if they behave bad is always better than what they did, they'll do it again because the costs-benefits calc is always good for them.

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TheDemonBuer 70 points 11 days ago

This country is an extremely dangerous combination of cruel and stupid.

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TipRing 70 points 11 days ago

State sanctioned murder is the most fucked up thing, except for state-sanctioned torture followed by murder.

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Diplomjodler3 37 points 11 days ago

The cruelty is the point.

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halfpipe 58 points 11 days ago

So killing her doesn’t work, they bring an ambulance, take her to the hospital, let her go back to prison for a year and wait for them to try again?

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FirstCircle 45 points 11 days ago

It this point, IMO, they've shot their wad and should take her to the hospital and if she eventually survives all this then stop trying to kill her period and either re-incarcerate her for some period (even life) or let her go. Having the state try to kill her, twice, and fuck up the whole thing, twice, seems like ample punishment to me. Yee haw!

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nulluser 16 points 11 days ago

You forgot the part where they send her a bill for the ambulance and hospital.

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meco03211 16 points 11 days ago

Pretty much

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im_fine_sandy -6 points 11 days ago

It's an absurdity, but if you're going to execute people as humanely as possibly then yeah - if they're still alive after the attempt you have to provide assistance. What's the alternative?

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Janx 13 points 11 days ago

I grew up on a farm and my dad would have to slaughter the chickens we raised to feed the family. Despite trying to make their end as quick and painless as possible, the "chicken running around with its head cut off" was an actual thing sometimes. There's even a famous extremely rare occurrence of a chicken surviving its own beheading: Mike the Headless Chicken. Of course that chicken was monetized because Capitalism, but the point remains: if you have to take a life for whatever reason, there's no going back.

Trying to execute people as humanely as possible is a noble intention, but you need to have a backup plan in case the drugs fail. Just like Mike, trying to rescue her and keep her technically alive after the botched execution attempt is cruelty, plain and simple. It's also preventable, and completely unnecessary...

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im_fine_sandy 13 points 11 days ago

I think the backup plan was more drugs, which they administered.

I'm not quite sure what backup plan you might be thinking of? Beheading? Strangulation? Shooting?

The mind boggles.

Whatever the plan is, there has to be a point at which the executioners acknowledge that the plan has failed, and after that point the prisoner needs to be made as comfortable as possible.

A headless chicken is not analogous to a person who's had an intramuscular injection of whatever cocktail.

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Sanctus 4 points 11 days ago

Not that it wasn't already grisly and fucked. But didnt she ask specifically to be shot? If this doesnt prove that theres no truly humane way then nothing really will. Kind of feel like she was trying to avoid all of this in some way.

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scibra122 6 points 11 days ago

Not executing people

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im_fine_sandy 2 points 11 days ago

I agree wholeheartedly that executing people is barbaric.

My question is, if you're going to do it, then what do you do if it doesn't work,?

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scibra122 3 points 11 days ago

What value does the question really have though? It's not that hard to not murder people, there shouldn't need to be a plan B

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JustPlainDave 43 points 11 days ago

You'd think there'd be a sort of double-jeopardy thing in relation to lethal injections.

Something like the old Western movie trope of how you can't be hanged twice.

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irgendjemand 38 points 11 days ago

Sounds like cruel and unusual punishment to me

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Eezyville 16 points 11 days ago

Sounds like you aren't a MAGA Republican. They love this type of shit.

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UnderpantsWeevil 12 points 11 days ago

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the landmark majority opinion regarding lethal injection in the 2019 case Bucklew v. Precythe

In a 5–4 decision split along ideological lines, Gorsuch ruled that the Eighth Amendment—which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment—"does not guarantee a prisoner a painless death"

The ruling affirmed that under Supreme Court precedent, an inmate challenging a state's method of execution—even under unique, personal medical circumstances—must prove that a feasible, readily available alternative exists that would significantly reduce severe pain. Gorsuch ruled that Bucklew failed to provide the operational details necessary to show that nitrogen gas was a viable, easily implemented alternative for the state

Gorsuch also used the opinion to criticize what he viewed as legal gamesmanship, pointing out that Bucklew had managed to delay his execution for more than two decades through continuous legal appeals.

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stinkytofuisgood 2 points 10 days ago

The new modus operandi of The United States, it seems.

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SaveTheTuaHawk -9 points 10 days ago

She was convicted of torturing a teenage girl to death.

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NotAnOtter 14 points 10 days ago

Cruel and unusual punishment is flatly unethical, no debating it.

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chewypoops 36 points 11 days ago

Just a reminder that Tennessee has botched so much of this case for decades. There's no doubt that this woman is guilty, but for fuck's sake, look at this from Wikipedia:

Slemmer's mother repeatedly asked Tennessee authorities to return the fragment of skull for proper burial, but it remained in the state's possession as evidence. Authorities stated it would not be returned while the case remained open, awaiting Pike's execution. In a documentary that premiered September 2026 ahead of Pike's potential execution, Dead Woman Walking: Pike vs. Tennessee, Slemmer's mother, May Martinez, confirmed that after 16 years of fighting and writing letters, she had received the skull from the state of Tennessee but has still not received "the last piece of her daughter’s skull."

Yeah, that's right, the State of Tennessee still has a piece of the victim's skull and refuses to give it back to the family. The people who tell you that this was satanic are keeping a piece of the victim's body as a trophy. Sounds like they would know...

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DrSoap 12 points 10 days ago

They lost it most likely. There is no need to await execution. The trial is done.

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moakley 33 points 11 days ago

I think that should count.

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Psythik 4 points 11 days ago

Seriously, she beat the system twice. I feel like she earned her freedom at this point.

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DarkFuture 30 points 11 days ago

I mean is it really more humane than a guillotine or are we just doing lethal injections to make those witnessing it feel more comfortable?

As long as it's built properly a guillotine is pretty effective the first go around.

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iamthetot 22 points 11 days ago

It's absolutely for the sake of the audience, and I don't know anyone that reasonably argues otherwise.

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captainlezbian 4 points 10 days ago

Yeah the audience wants to not be confronted with their bloodlust. They want it clean and painless, just a quick "no more bad guy" rather than the viceral reality we're primed to experience when a life is ended

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JcbAzPx 8 points 11 days ago

It's easier to argue in court since tha paralytic part of the three injections hides any possible reactions. That's why they've had recent trouble doing lethal injections; the reactions start to show and give away the game when you don't paralyze fully.

It's also interesting there have been problems with nitrogen as well. It tells me they haven't set it up so they purge co2 properly. Likely deliberately.

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Tollana1234567 1 point 10 days ago

i assume the agonizing part for nitrogen is gasping for air, is not like going to sleep and never waking up. so its not really humane

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captainlezbian 2 points 10 days ago

Biologically we detect co2 not o2. The agonizing part of nitrogen is that they don't want to die and know that inhaling will kill them so they're holding their breath. It's natural human instinct on their part.

I also dislike gas for executions because it makes it too easy, clean, and scalable for the state. Governments can't make a room that just suddenly hangs everyone in it when a button is pressed. If we must have executions (and I oppose them in general) it should be hanging or guillotine.

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saimen 1 point 10 days ago

I also dislike gas for executions because it makes it too easy, clean, and scalable for the state. Governments can't make a room that just suddenly hangs everyone in it when a button is pressed.

Yeah...there is also some historical precedent you usually don't want to be associated with...

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JcbAzPx 2 points 10 days ago

You don't gasp for air. I've seen controlled experiments with people on pure nitrogen and they don't even notice what's happening. They just get a little loopy and stop being able to function more and more.

It's possible the people executed in this manner so far were all trying to hold their breath and hurting themselves, but it seems just as likely to me that they either were not using pure nitrogen or were sealing the face mask so none of the exhalations escaped.

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cdf12345 2 points 11 days ago

I think an explosion box would be the best. (I am anti death penalty)

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jpreston2005 3 points 11 days ago

Like a bomb calorimeter? We could find out how many calories in each person as they go!

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SHY_TUCKER 1 point 9 days ago

Wow. You just said "guillotine" and you are aren't going to be banned for it. Welcome to the fediverse!

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stickyprimer 29 points 11 days ago

I’ve been hearing for years that it’s very hard for the government to find qualified doctors who will work with them on this technology or help administer it, and that makes it extremely hard to carry out reliably. This is far from an isolated incident.

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CedricWhaley 14 points 11 days ago

It's also pretty hard to source the chemicals because some of the manufacturers won't sell when they find out what it's being used for.

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jacksilver 8 points 11 days ago

Kinda makes you wonder about the whole concept when no one wants to be involved.

I wonder if it was like jury duty and anyone could be randomly selected to be the executioner if support for the death penalty would change.

Edit: By wonder, I mean it somewhat flippantly. Like "maybe this ain't such a grand idea if no one wants to be anywhere near it"

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MajorasTerribleFate 2 points 11 days ago

There is absolutely a subset of basically any population that would volunteer. Maybe only once, but they would.

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ohulancutash 13 points 11 days ago

Because executions violate the Hippocratic oath.

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stickyprimer 2 points 11 days ago

The angle of execution being a harm is pretty obvious, but on the other hand they could reduce suffering (a harm) by by helping ensure it’s done right. But I guess the oath doesn’t compel them to reduce harm, just not add to it.

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ohulancutash 5 points 11 days ago

In the US, any medical professional participating in an execution loses their credentials. That’s the bare minimum consequence but even Americans sometimes do something slightly right on occasion.

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UnderpantsWeevil 1 point 11 days ago path: 0 26113897 26114021 26118393 26118580, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
UnderpantsWeevil 1 point 11 days ago

Reminds me of the scene from I'm A Virgo, where Elijah Wood explains why he's becoming an executioner.

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jafffacakelemmy 26 points 11 days ago

Why does the article repeatedly call them 'lethal injections'. They were not.

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mobyduck648 47 points 11 days ago

The whole notion of lethal injections is the product of a sick and cowardly mentality in my view.

I oppose the death penalty in general, but at least the gallows or the firing squad have the decency not to lie about what they are: the state violently ending someone's life in cold blood. The lethal injection is a perverse inversion of medicine, it exists solely to protect the moral blushes of the pieces of crap who carry it out. Only a profoundly immoral political culture could invent something so blatantly perverted in my view. I particularly loathe the concept for this reason:

If executions are gruesome enough the people who order them haven't the stomach to pull the lever on the gallows, the correct response is to abolish the death penalty; not to sanitise it behind a ghastly pseudo-medical ritual which exists solely to allow those people to sleep at night. It is a coward's way to have the death penalty without being considered cruel and despotic, but it is in reality among the most cruel and despotic forms of execution. If executions are to take place at all (and I think they should not) they should be very public, very swift, and very traditional so people are forced to see what the death penalty actually is.

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TheMadCodger 8 points 11 days ago

I read once about someone suggesting that a volunteer who was willing to die for his country would carry the nuclear codes imbedded inside his chest. in order to launch thebl president would have to stab him in order to he the codes out to launch a nuclear strike. This way they would have to really evaluate whether it was worth it or not to take so many lives.

It was immediately shot down for being barbaric and horrendous and how could someone suggest such a thing!

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captainlezbian 2 points 10 days ago

Yep. I oppose the death penalty. But if we have it it must be visceral, non scalable, and ideally minimized pain. The executed should also have ultimate say in which method that's available is taken. Its a disgusting, violent, and solemn act and should be treated as such

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samus12345 7 points 11 days ago

"Less lethal" injections.

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Monument 3 points 11 days ago

Lethal~ish injections.

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DioramaOfShit 26 points 11 days ago

charly kirk only took one lethal injection and died. What a loser.

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Tollana1234567 4 points 10 days ago

well it was technically a firing squad unofficially.

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modus 7 points 10 days ago

Rapid arterial depressurization due to Ballistic lead injection.

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bold_atlas 3 points 10 days ago

Dude had a heart attack. The fuck you talking about?

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Themosthighstrange 3 points 10 days ago

From a drug overdose

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bold_atlas 1 point 9 days ago

Yeah thankfully a lot of states are finally passing Charlie Kirk Laws outlawing gas station kratom

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Trilogy3452 25 points 11 days ago

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Gates9 22 points 11 days ago

It’s all murder

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casualvagrancy 7 points 11 days ago

“We’re going to murder you to show that murder is wrong. You can’t just go killing people to get revenge because you came up with some elaborate ritual to justify it!” Always seemed like a weird take.

Also, we murder murderers but we don’t rape rapists. We don’t rape rapists because we have to be clear that rape is always wrong, no matter what. But we’re ok sending the message that murder is ok when we do it, just not when you do it.

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iamthetot 5 points 11 days ago

Technically so far it's just cruel torture.

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blindbunny 20 points 11 days ago

We live in a clown state

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susieq0044 20 points 11 days ago

How sick is this?

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REDACTED 3 points 11 days ago

Quite literally sick, as some form is sickness prevented the dose from working

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Taleya 19 points 11 days ago

The problem with lethal injection is that its a medical procedure requiring precision and specific, expensive drugs that...prison systems don't want to use either of

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UnderpantsWeevil 13 points 11 days ago

prison systems don’t want to use either of

Every major F.D.A.-approved pharmaceutical manufacturer and several key medical supply companies have blocked the sale of their products for use in lethal injection executions.

Like, imagine a line the Sackler Family won't cross because it's too unprofitable evil. That's where we're at on lethal injection drugs.

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Armok_the_bunny 5 points 11 days ago

I mean, probably not because it's evil so much as it's bad publicity.

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Cricket 2 points 10 days ago

From what I recall hearing in the news years ago, it seems that the manufacturers of the main drugs that would be used for this are located outside the US, in countries where the death penalty is not legal, so add a third reason for them not to do it (legal jeopardy).

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Tollana1234567 5 points 10 days ago

also the companies that make the drugs dont want to be associated with it, i believe a european country that makes the drug refused tos ell it. so the states have to jury rig a drug cocktail.

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HugeNerd 4 points 11 days ago

What "precision" is needed for death? Better not give her too much potassium chloride it might kill her?

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cdf12345 9 points 11 days ago

Im assuming you're not just being a smart ass, and will give you a real answer:

The human body can be extremely resilient. If you are required to kill someone but not allowed to intentionally prolong the death or inflict unnecessary suffering, you must be really precise. The law is written that way to prevert torturing someone before their death.

In this botched execution, witnesses said her arm was purple and there were 7 sites that needles were used. Imagine attempting to injected a substance into someone's bloodstream 7 times and failing each time. All those liquids have to go somewhere, so it just absolutely ruins everything it touches loose in the body. She complained that her arm felt like it was going to burst. That to me is unnecessary suffering.

If they really wanted to kill someone nearly instantly they would have some type of blast chamber and use enough explosive that someone would basically be exploded in fractions of a second. But somehow that seems messy and barbaric compared to torturing someone like the state did last night.

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lonefighter 1 point 10 days ago

Curious if those 7 sites were IV attempts or actual injections.

I believe I heard before that part of the problem with lethal injection is getting the IV started. Medical personnel follow this little creed called "Primum Non Nocere" aka first, do no harm, so they very rightfully won't have anything to do with lethal injection. Apparently the people who start the IVs for lethal injection are just whoever they can get to volunteer to start an IV. Starting an IV isn't rocket science, but there are things you need to know, and if it's not in the vein correctly and that isn't recognized it could result in the injection not actually going into the vein and just ending up in her arm to slowly be absorbed by the surrounding tissue, which is something that theoretically could have her getting a lower dose over a longer amount of time instead of the entire dose all at once.

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Taleya 6 points 11 days ago

It's the difference between dying and dying screaming.

We are not monsters

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MehBlah 5 points 11 days ago

We are not monsters

Many in government are. They gravitate toward power and are simply the most horrible people possible.

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HumanOnEarth 6 points 11 days ago

I'm no expert, but I'm guessing to ensure a painless and expedient death. Maybe too much of anything would be vomiting -> excruciating pain -> unnecessary fear/panic -> death instead of.....asleep and dead.

I'm partial to something like a 5-ton boulder being dropped directly onto your face. Death aint pretty anyway, it would be cheap as hell, guaranteed fast and effective. And it would force some much needed conversations around the topic. Why not a boulder to obliterate your head? Who's uncomfortable with it and for what reason?

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deadbeef79000 18 points 11 days ago

There's a reason that old timey sentences were "hanged by the neck until dead".

I imagine, without any evidence, that the contemporary legislation is so poorly worded that having been administered the "lethal injection chemicals" is all that the legislation requires.

Aside; bizarrely extra judicial execution by gun shot by cop is OK but not as a court's sentence?

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Manjushri 11 points 11 days ago

Execution by firing squad is still legal in Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah. Typically other forms of execution must be unavailable for some reason for them to accept firing squad, but it is still an option.

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stickyprimer 11 points 11 days ago

And we’ve all clutched our pearls about it many times. But lethal injection is only more humane for the witnesses. These botched injections are common and the process is not painless by a long shot. The prisoner is simply immobilized by a first injection before a second, excruciating one kills them. I’d seriously consider a bullet to the head if it were me.

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Manjushri 3 points 11 days ago

I agree 100%. I'm completely opposed to capital punishment.

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OctopusNemeses 17 points 11 days ago

What a clusterfuck of a life.

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UnderpantsWeevil 22 points 11 days ago

Abused by your parents until you turn 18, and then the state takes over.

America in a nutshell

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Cleisthenian 7 points 11 days ago

I was thinking the same thing when I read it. No doubt we'll see an army of public servant dickheads in expensive suits lining up in front of the cameras speaking in a solemn voice about what happened before saying they accept full responsibility, and then go right back to abusing her through legalistic obstructionism and bullshit. The US really is an awful country.

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Radical_Socialist_t00t 17 points 11 days ago

"But your honor the sentence has indeed been carried out and state has no further business with client, I expect their release tomorrow "

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likebudda 2 points 10 days ago

"No no no we're going to try to kill her again but we're going to try harder this time. What could possibly go wrong?"

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dogslayeggs 16 points 11 days ago

This feels like a "ball don't lie" situation.

Or, since the religious conservatives who love life also really like killing people, this is like God ordering a stay of execution.

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AeonFelis 2 points 11 days ago

Considering what she was executed for, it may have not been capital G God behind it..

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Tollana1234567 1 point 10 days ago

twice she was attempted on by execution.

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MyOpinion 16 points 11 days ago

MAGAts can't even kill people right. What morons.

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Eternal192 13 points 11 days ago

You think when she woke up the second time that she said "third times the charm?".

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UltraGiGaGigantic 11 points 11 days ago

A lethal dose of opiates.

I feel like if a execution doesn't work, the person should be free to go. They already went through the execution and served their sentance.

Then the government would actually give a shit.

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Thalion 31 points 11 days ago

Or just get rid of the death penalty because it's barbaric

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UnderpantsWeevil 5 points 11 days ago

Okay, but what if the person you're lining up for death is really unpopular, and I can run a political campaign promising to kill them?

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Taleya 14 points 11 days ago

Used to be the rule in many places. Man's law spoke and god said no.

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anarchy79 1 point 11 days ago

The Lord requireth sacrifice.

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Tenthrow 7 points 11 days ago

I don't know about "Free to go" but definitely not, "let's keep executing them until it sticks."

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FE80 8 points 11 days ago path: 0 26114299, hotness: undefined, score: 8, children: 0
Aussiemandeus 7 points 11 days ago

I'm confused, I thought they ordered a stay on her execution?

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queerlilhayseed 20 points 11 days ago

A lower court did.

The process to execute Pike began at about 8 p.m., her lawyers said, after the Supreme Court vacated a lower court’s Wednesday morning order that had temporarily blocked the move.

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Aussiemandeus 9 points 11 days ago

Then God said no to the higher court

/s

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Lor 7 points 10 days ago

TN is using 1 drug when the requirement is 3. It is gonna happen.

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Gammelfisch 6 points 10 days ago

The Tennessee Oblast, through massive red run deregulation, cheapened the drug to the point where it will fail.

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mrsilkworm 6 points 11 days ago

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PattyMcB 5 points 11 days ago

Tennessee is all fucked up. Just give her mental health care and supervise her if she makes it.

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dharmacurious 7 points 11 days ago

Thing is, she has kinda done that work herself, despite the incredibly limited resources of an inmate.

She openly talks about how her mental health and past trauma caused her to do it, admits that doesn't mean she's not guilty of doing it, advocates for better mental health care, and during her time in prison, when she wasn't stuck in solitary for literal years on end, she has saved multiple lives of other inmates.

This women did something truly repugnant. But she does not deserve to be murdered for it. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. Her boyfriend took a box cutter and carved a pentagram into their victims chest while she was alive and screaming. He got life.

Their friend who taunted and tortured the victim, and stood look out while her head was bashed in? She got parole.

But this one person involved had to spend years in solitary, has repeatedly had her rights denied, and is being murdered by the state.

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sunbytes 1 point 9 days ago

I'll take a bullet every time.

I've heard too many stories about prolonged and/or agonising death.

No. Give me the device humans have used millions upon millions of times to quickly and effectively end a life.

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SpaceCrystal -12 points 10 days ago

At this point, I’d just let her rot.

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stinkytofuisgood 4 points 10 days ago

She is a convicted murderer. Her sentence was death. Her attorney even requested death by hanging but the request was denied.

So be it. But the state has failed to hand down the stipulated punishment. The fact is that her punishment resulted in a different outcome than what was deemed to be just.

Doesn't matter who it is, doesn't matter why it happened, doesn't matter how it happened. This was and is a horrendous miscarriage of justice.

The above are just facts. I'm no judge or lawyer, and I can't be the one to decide what happens next. However, in my opinion, she is owed something. I don't know what that something is. But what happened isn't right and was not her fault.

So while you'd "just let her rot", it's my opinion that this would not be in the spirit of a just and competent legal system.

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SpaceCrystal 1 point 10 days ago

If nothing has worked so far, what more can you do? I’m just being a realist.

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