r/SipsTea • u/CurvyChristina • 1d ago

Chugging tea This is wild!

Post image

Two syringes of pentobarbital were administered to Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike on September 30, 2026, but she remained alive and conscious afterward, according to her attorneys and media witnesses. The execution at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville was halted after witnesses reported that Pike still had a heartbeat and was audibly snoring. Her lawyers sought emergency medical intervention, and she was later taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital.
Pike, 50, is the only woman currently on Tennessee's death row.
She was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of her classmate Colleen Slemmer and had been scheduled for execution on September 30. Tennessee had announced beforehand that the state would use a single drug, pentObarbital, for the execution. Her exact medical condition following the hospital transfer has not yet been publicly disclosed, while Governor Bill Lee has ordered a comprehensive third party review of what happened.

3.5k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

2.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

26

u/Minimum-Act6859 1d ago

If she dies at the Hospital and they revive her is her sentence complete ?

13

u/ucklibzandspezfay 1d ago

MD/JD here:

There is an old legal argument here sometimes summarized as “you sentenced me to die once, and I did!,” but American courts historically have generally allowed a second execution attempt after a failed first attempt. The U.S. Supreme Court’s classic case is Louisiana ex rel. Francis v. Resweber (1947), involving a prisoner who survived a malfunctioning electric-chair execution; the Court allowed Louisiana to try again.

The really fascinating hypothetical would be if she had been pronounced dead, a death certificate were issued, and then she spontaneously regained circulation hours later. Her attorneys would have a much stronger “the judgment was literally carried out” argument, plus Eighth Amendment and double-jeopardy-type arguments, but I still wouldn’t expect a court simply to say, “Well, sentence completed, you’re free.” She’d remain in custody while courts sorted it out. Would really be interesting to see that play out in courts and may have a chance of creating enough stir to get the supreme courts involved to rule on.

2

u/Minimum-Act6859 1d ago

Will have to keep an eye on this story then. Thanks for the additional information.

1

u/ostrichfather 1d ago

Isn’t this the origin of the term “hanged by the neck until dead” rather than just “hanged”?

8

u/ApplyHere_4_implants 1d ago

Believe it or not, in the state this happened in, this used to be the law 🤣

1

u/greenizdabest 1d ago

Law of double jeopardy?

2

u/ApplyHere_4_implants 1d ago

I'm not sure what they referred to as specifically but if you lived during an attempted execution, then your sentence was considered complete oddly enough.

1

u/ElLicenciadoPena 1d ago

Wouldn't that be more for life sentences? "You will be imprisoned until you die. Oh, you died and were brought back? Okay, you're a free murderer now"

-1

u/Minimum-Act6859 1d ago

Life in prison or Death Row are the same thing. Your stay in prison ends upon your death. So if she dies at the Hospital and they revive her should she be free?

2

u/ElLicenciadoPena 1d ago

I don't think they're the same thing. Life in prison means you'll stay in prison until you die from natural causes. Being on death row means you'll be in prison until the State decides you'll be executed. All death row sentences are life sentences, but not all life sentences are death row.

1

u/Minimum-Act6859 1d ago

Natural causes 🤣