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.”
"But your honor the sentence has indeed been carried out and state has no further business with client, I expect their release tomorrow "
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…
charly kirk only took one lethal injection and died. What a loser.
well it was technically a firing squad unofficially.
What a clusterfuck of a life.
Abused by your parents until you turn 18, and then the state takes over.
America in a nutshell
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.
Sounds like cruel and unusual punishment to me
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.
Sounds like you aren’t a MAGA Republican. They love this type of shit.
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
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.
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
unprofitableevil. That’s where we’re at on lethal injection drugs.I mean, probably not because it’s evil so much as it’s bad publicity.
What “precision” is needed for death? Better not give her too much potassium chloride it might kill her?
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.
It’s the difference between dying and dying screaming.
We are not monsters
We are not monsters
Many in government are. They gravitate toward power and are simply the most horrible people possible.
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?
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.
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 problems with nitrogen as well. It tells me they haven’t set it up so they purge co2 properly. Likely deliberately.
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
It’s absolutely for the sake of the audience, and I don’t know anyone that reasonably argues otherwise.
I think an explosion box would be the best. (I am anti death penalty)
Like a bomb calorimeter? We could find out how many calories in each person as they go!
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.
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.
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”
There is absolutely a subset of basically any population that would volunteer. Maybe only once, but they would.
Because executions violate the Hippocratic oath.
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.
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.
Reminds me of the scene from I’m A Virgo, where Elijah Wood explains why he’s becoming an executioner.
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.
Used to be the rule in many places. Man’s law spoke and god said no.
The Lord requireth sacrifice.
Or just get rid of the death penalty because it’s barbaric
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?
I don’t know about “Free to go” but definitely not, “let’s keep executing them until it sticks.”
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.
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.
Considering what she was executed for, it may have not been capital G God behind it…
twice she was attempted on by execution.
This country is an extremely dangerous combination of cruel and stupid.
The south never learns.
It’s all murder
“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.
Technically so far it’s just cruel torture.
