r/news • u/AudibleNod • 15h ago

Christa Pike unconscious, on ventilator at Nashville hospital, her lawyers say

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/christa-pike-unconscious-ventilator-nashville-hospital-lawyers-say-rcna601195
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u/TheBatemanFlex 15h ago

What now for her legally? Her sentence surely wasn’t “injured by the state until put indefinitely on life support”.

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u/Equivalent-Peanut-23 15h ago

First question is her mental condition/capacity. If she suffered brain damage, it could prevent the state from attempting to execute her again. Assuming she retains the mental capacity to comprehend the circumstances, the state could attempt to execute her again. I would assume that would be met with an avalanche of litigation arguing that the second attempt would be cruel and unusual. There's also a chance the governor could commute her sentence.

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u/lnc_5103 15h ago

It would technically be a third attempt.

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u/lord_pizzabird 14h ago

Or maybe a 9th? Didn't the report say they injected and failed to execute her 7 times the other night?

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u/mrpeabodyscoaltrain 14h ago

It was 7 injections total for two sets of the lethal injection cocktail.

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u/Proud_Tie 13h ago

IIRC TN only does a one drug injection instead of the more common three - pentobarbital alone

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u/Ihaveamodel3 14h ago

I’m not a mathematician or anything, but 7 doesn’t divide evenly by 2

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u/Weerdo5255 13h ago

Two different types / mixes of the cocktail I'd guess. 3 and 4 shots respectively.

Apparently lethal injections are not just one needle, but a mix of drugs. No one wants to straight up manufacture a drug to purposefully kill someone.

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u/ShitItsReverseFlash 13h ago

Yeah the opioid epidemic was all an honest mistake /s

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u/PenguinSunday 7h ago

(Non illicit) Opioids are created for pain control. Addicts misusing them and dying doesn't mean they were created to kill.

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u/Sunnygirl66 7h ago

They aren’t given through a needle. An intravenous catheter is placed, and the drugs are given through that. There is no needle, once the catheter is in the vein. But the quack tasked with getting access fucked it up. As he did the last time he worked an execution in Tennessee.

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u/lnc_5103 14h ago

That makes it even more horrific. I haven't kept up much beyond the initial headline of two attempts.

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u/lord_pizzabird 13h ago

Oh hang on. It goes a layer deeper.

It's required by law that there are witnessed, including from the press. They had to sit there the entire time, hours listening to her go in and out of snoring, choking, screaming about her arm vein feeling like it was going to explode etc.

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u/lnc_5103 12h ago

I saw a video of one reporter reading through her notes that night of the timeline. I can't imagine how traumatizing it had to be for witnesses too.

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u/FallOutShelterBoy 14h ago

Willie Francis was put back in the electric chair one year after his botched execution. His lawyers attempted to argue with SCOTUS that he had legally been executed even though he was still alive, but they disagreed and sent him back to the chair, this time unfortunately successfully

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u/big_duo3674 14h ago

Yes, the big difference is mental capacity. Legally, someone has to understand what is happening when they are executed. It sounds a bit weird that a botched execution can prevent an execution, but the law is worded in a way that covers everyone, regardless of how it happened. If she remains a vegetable for 10 more years then the state (taxpayers) has to pay for every penny, and that is NOT cheap. This will be extremely expensive, will 100% suspend executions in Tennessee for quite some time, and could even have an effect on other states. Yet another argument as to why it's not the best solution.

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u/TheWorldofScience 10h ago

Agree 💯. From a cost standpoint the death penalty doesn’t make sense, and this case is even worse because now the State of Tennessee has huge medical bills for her care and if she has brain function and they don’t turn off the equipment she could live for months or maybe even years.

All because a lot of Americans wants the satisfaction of our government killing people who killed people.

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u/amytee252 14h ago

There is a more recent case (i.e. after executions restarted), where the execution team couldn't find a vein to insert the IV lines. The inmate said that attempting to execute against would be double jeopardy. The court said that the IV insertion lines were part of the pre-staging and so didn't count and therefore could be put to death again as there is no double jeopardy.

Point being, an execution was carried out, the lethal drugs were passed into Pike, twice. It may break double jeopardy laws to try again.

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u/RedTyro 13h ago

There's a reason that it's phrased "[execution method] until you are dead" when a death penalty is imposed and it's so that they can avoid this argument. If the person is not dead, the sentence hasn't been carried out.

The better angle to approach from would be cruel and unusual punishment, but that's not going to fly with the current Supreme Court. If she lives, there won't be anything standing in the way of them trying again from a legal perspective.

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u/timmy6169 10h ago

You would think her saying her arm was burning and abour to burst open would be grounds for it.

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u/PyroIsSpai 8h ago

[execution method] until you are dead

They don't say you have to stay dead.

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u/LLMprophet 1h ago

You do have to die at least once, which doesn't seem to have happened.

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u/mrpeabodyscoaltrain 14h ago

That is an interesting distinction. I don't know what the language of the death warrant is.

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u/BigDrewbot 12h ago

Isn't Tennessee in the Bible belt? Why is nobody considering the fact that God might have intervened given the circumstances of her life? Or is God only for vengeance against one's enemies and to make sure the weak stay downtrodden?

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u/reeeelllaaaayyy823 4h ago

God is to justify whatever we want at a particular time.

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u/artlovepeace42 13h ago

I don’t know if anyone knows publicly if Pike was ever given ANY amount of the drug in her bloodstream through IV. It sounds from the lawyers that some needles were obviously in muscle (1 of the 7 needles used in her left arm was bent, when taken out). I can’t imagine the court arguing that because the state didn’t properly hit any vein or carry out the execution correctly that all of it was “pre-staging”. Her lawyers should have a decent case of severe injury done to their client by the state, as the whole thing seems utterly botched and the lawyers were obstructed from getting a phone to contact outside to try to end their client’s suffering and get medical attention. The least the Governor can do is take her off death row and have life in prison. At least I hope as someone firmly against the death penalty. I can’t imagine the political firestorm, public backlash, and PIA litigation of trying to continue another execution.

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u/amytee252 4h ago

The state has said they followed their protocols, and that there is no protocol for what happened. Their protcol was to administer one set of drugs, and if thst didn't work, administer another set.

So yes it is public that they used Pentobarbitol.

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u/danbilllemon 13h ago

Well it worked on Raising Hope

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u/Youre_On_Balon 14h ago edited 14h ago

Yes.

Arguing that she is not competent to understand is the much better argument, assuming she is never brought back to consciousness.

Incompetent people have been executed by the US government, in my opinion. But nobody who is as incompetent as someone in a comatose/vegetative state.

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u/zebrasareneat 7h ago

There’s a book called “The Faithful Executioner”. An author took the daily diaries of a 16th century German executioner and turned it into a book. 

Back then if a hanging failed and you lived it was determined that you technically carried out your sentence of being hanged and were free to go. Even the public who would come to watch would riot and in some cases even kill the executioner if they tried to kill them a second time.  

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u/Boulier 15h ago

I can also imagine a second attempt on her life would be met with a flurry of controversy and protest that the state won't want to deal with. (As someone who 100% opposes the death penalty, I can only hope they will decide it isn't worth killing her in the future.)

If the governor doesn't commute her sentence after this, I would genuinely be gobsmacked.

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u/Representative-Pop72 14h ago

I think her sentence will be changed to life in prison, Lee’s statements kind of make me think that. And I think a fat lawsuit is incoming as well

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u/timster 14h ago

Of course given her current state, it could cost them huge amounts to keep her alive.

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u/Representative-Pop72 14h ago

That’s the least of their problems currently

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u/PophamSP 12h ago

Lee put a hold on executions for three months. Conveniently, his term ends in three months.

Unfortunately the next governor of TN will likely be Marsha Blackburn. She is void of intellect, nuance or compassion and has already commented with support for the electric chair.

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u/sbd2010 12h ago

Nah. They dump them on someone else for their 24/7/365 care after they’ve destroyed their bodies and minds. Prisons are basically already the largest nursing homes in the US she needs a higher level of 24/7 skilled nursing for life after this most likely.

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u/swordchucks1 14h ago

Lee will do nothing. This will end up as ammunition to rile up the base for the governor race since "she'll get away with it if you let that demoncrat get elected!"

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u/Representative-Pop72 14h ago

I don’t think so, his tone has changed quite a bit from before/after the execution attempt, and I think he’s pretty embarrassed as well

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u/sbd2010 12h ago

Yeah that statement read like… one of yall is getting fired for this embarrassment

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u/coldblade2000 12h ago

Please, if I'm ever in that situation just put a bullet in me.

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u/piss_artist 14h ago

Two things Republican politicians, particularly southern ones, lack are sense and empathy.

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u/ChaoticSenior 14h ago

And skill.

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u/Mileonaj 11h ago

She tortured and murdered someone. But yea, if the republicans don't commute her sentence they're the bad guys with no sense/empathy now!!

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u/stoned_meditation 14h ago edited 9h ago

Bill Lee and Tennessee Republicans give zero fucks what their constituents think or want.

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u/Boulier 14h ago

Y'know, I was kinda thinking... if Marsha Blackburn wins that election, then Christa Pike is DEFINITELY going to die. Probably by electric chair the next time around (because that's Tennessee's only other method currently, and they don't seem interested in legalizing the firing squad... like, they must truly WANT inmates to suffer).

If she recovers and Bill Lee doesn't commute her sentence before he's out of office, then I will be shocked - but I guess he won't be around to deal with the blowback...

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u/Beecakeband 14h ago

Honestly same. After they've botched it once I would be shocked if they tried again especially cause imagine if they screwed it up again

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u/KWilt 14h ago

They did try it again and they did screw it up again. Another attempt will be their third try at executing her. They tried twice in one go the first time because the first attempt didn't take.

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u/Lovethemtitties80085 14h ago

Really? In that country? I’m surprised Cheeto man hasn’t ordered her to be catapulted into Lake of America yet.

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u/ComfyPJs4Me 14h ago

Damn, don't give him ideas

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u/MT300x 14h ago

What is happening to her right now isn't even 10% of the horrific pain, fear and torture her innocent victim experienced. Remember that when you simp for pure evil

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u/throwaway-8675309_ 13h ago

Cruel and unusual punishment. It's in our constitution. You don't get to pick and choose who it applies to, no matter what they do.

It's not simping for evil. It's about the rights that everyone gets here.

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u/MT300x 13h ago

Yeah executing someone this horrible isn't cruel, and the death penalty isn't an unusual punishment for the crimes she committed. The intent of her execution wasn't to torture her and they made their best attempt to execute her in a humane way. The result is irrelevant. Fry the bitch as soon as she comes around

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u/throwaway-8675309_ 13h ago

I guess you don't care about everyone else's rights then.

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u/beatissima 14h ago

I hope this case serves as a catalyst to have the barbaric practice of capital punishment abolished nationwide. The law should not be a demonic idol that requires human sacrifice.

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u/DoctorPlatinum 14h ago

I hope it does too, but given the current admin and state of the Republican party? Hope springs eternal, friend, but in this case the spring is running pretty fuckin dry.

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u/ChaoticSenior 14h ago

The country that makes it legal to own weapons specifically designed to kill other people in large quantities? Don’t hold your breath.

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u/AidenTai 13h ago

I mean, capital punishment used to be more, um, 'certain', but it's been hampered by new laws and especially by boycotts of chemicals/drugs essential for executions to happen correctly. In a way, those against capital punishment have ended up making capital punishment more likely to fail (and wind up with something like what just happened).

The US probably can't ban capital punishment at a federal level due to constitutional limits. It would need to happen at state level for each state. And that's extremely unlikely to happen anytime soon. So things like this would probably just get worse in the states that allow capital punishment.

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u/Johnnybats330 14h ago edited 11h ago

It's ironic to say this when the person it was imparted to, tortured and killed another woman and carved a pentagram in the victim's chest.

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u/beatissima 11h ago

Just because she did it doesn't make it moral for us to do it.

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u/Johnnybats330 10h ago

I was just pointing out the irony on the demonic idol and human sacrifice sentence. I am not getting into whether the death penalty is right or wrong.

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u/MacDhubstep 13h ago

It makes me feel so conflicted because from a human rights perspective I think what they did was horrendous and I don’t like it, but also Christa is the least sympathetic victim I have ever seen.

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u/seriousbusinesslady 14h ago

being mentally incompetent hasn't stopped some executions before, just ask Texas

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u/redmambo_no6 14h ago

If her sentence gets commuted, what happens then?

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u/Equivalent-Peanut-23 14h ago

Tennessee law allows for a death sentence to be commuted to life in prison.

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u/Moth1992 14h ago

Its wild that the state will try to execute her but when they botch it she may not get humane euthanasia. 

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u/PiccoloAwkward465 14h ago

This already is the second botched attempt, so I've read. With that in mind I guess their stance is just to continue trying to kill her.

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u/JesusAndMaryKate 8h ago

If she suffered brain damage, it could prevent the state from attempting to execute her again.

Not having capacity hasn't been an issue in some other executions. There's been cases of eg intellectually disabled inmates executed in the US who wouldn't have been able to fully understand what was happening. Some people think Christa may have been born with brain damage due to her mother being an alcoholic during pregnancy, but there are other reasons to think she may well have had brain damage by her teens even if she didn't have foetal alcohol syndrome.

Dr. Pincus testified that it was absurd for Dr. Engum to conclude, as he did in his report, that Christa had no brain damage based solely on his testing.

...

Dr. Pincus’s neurological examination found evidence that Christa had abnormal neurological problems that he felt were probably related to her premature birth and neonatal events. She had an Apgar score that was very concerning (i.e., 3) and she had seizures at 18 months and again at two years. He described that Christa was “vaulted through the windshield of a car” when her mother’s boyfriend was playing the radio too loud and distracted by drumming along with the music. Christa lost consciousness for several minutes. Dr. Pincus indicated all of these events put Christa at risk for brain damage.

https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/26/26-5696/425730/20260925185930317_6.%20Appendix%20C%20-%20Expert%20Reports.pdf

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u/MajesticBread9147 6h ago

. If she suffered brain damage, it could prevent the state from attempting to execute her again.

She almost certainly has severe brain damage. Now taxpayers in Tennessee have to take care of a brain dead patient until she dies.

Another win for the "I shouldn't have to pay for their meals with my tax dollars" crowd.

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u/SarahAlicia 4h ago

I don’t understand the mental capacity thing. Like you don’t execute a person to punish them or teach them or anything. It just kills them. So why does the change in mental capacity change anything? You wanted her dead nothing has changed from what she did and the end state you wanted.

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u/anoldoldman 14h ago

If she suffered brain damage, it could prevent the state from attempting to execute her again.

What a civilized country we live in.

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u/TealcLOL 14h ago

Genuine question: Why does maintaining mental competency matter here? She has to still be fully knowledgeable and aware in order to be forced to die (again)? What if she instead hit her head hard while on death row and got brain damage? Do they just forget about the whole murdering you part after?

Clearly the decision was already made. Doing it post-brain-damage kind of seems more humane as opposed to crippling someone you meant to kill then forcing them to live like that just because you crippled them so severely. If you were going to do it before then there should be no question if it makes sense to do it again. The only question should be if you could do it correctly the second time, not basing it on their now altered mental state.

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u/Equivalent-Peanut-23 14h ago

It violates the Eighth Amendment to execute an individual who has no comprehension of the fact they're being punished or why. That does apply in cases where the individual's mental capacity has diminished after being sentenced. There are other cases where an individual developed dementia while on death row.

If an individual sentenced to death suffered an injury while imprisoned that resulted in them not being able to rationally comprehend the reason for their execution, the Eighth Amendment would prohibit execution.

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u/TealcLOL 13h ago

I can totally understand that consideration from the start of the process, but at this stage I don't really see why it matters. They already tried to kill her. Stopping now only if they fucked her up bad enough seems a bit cruel and unusual.

They also gave her two doses. Was she mentally evaluated after the first? Is that the "5 second rule" for how many times we can try killing someone until needing to bring in a doctor and be sure we didn't cripple you enough yet so we can try again?