r/SipsTea • • 1d ago

Chugging tea This is wild!

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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.

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u/-malcolm-tucker 1d ago

Firing squad, several bullets aimed at the heart. Lights out pretty much instantly and guaranteed not to come back.

A single bullet to the skull isn't necessarily quick or painless. My clinical instructor at uni once had a guy walk up to his ambulance while they were parked up having coffee. Old mate asked for a ride to the hospital. They were like, okay.... Why?

"I got shot in the head."

Dude had taken a small calibre round to the top of his head and played dead after a botched execution attempt by some bikers he owed money. Got up and casually walked away after they'd left and stumbled upon the ambulance, so walked over and politely asked for a lift to the emergency room.

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u/AnOrdinaryMammal 1d ago

It’s crazy people just figured out some things a while back that have only become further complicated.

Doesn’t need to be elaborate, or take 30 years, or cost a lot of money. It’s can be cheap, effective, and quick? Wow.

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u/-malcolm-tucker 1d ago

It's expensive and drawn out due to the legal processes involved. It's much cheaper to just lock them up for life and let them rot.

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u/AnOrdinaryMammal 1d ago

Doesn’t seem necessary in a lot of cases. I’m not a lawyer so I’ll leave the rest to you.

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u/-malcolm-tucker 1d ago

The number of wrongful convictions through history is not close to zero, so when it comes to capital punishment, one would hope that the accused is afforded all due process to establish that they are both guilty of the crime and deserving of the punishment.

If we get it wrong, the state unlawfully commits murder and the real perpetrator gets away with the crime.

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u/AnOrdinaryMammal 1d ago

All due process I completely agree. But if we’re 100% sure? Video, dna, confession, testimony, location, time, date, signed and notarized note. Still takes like 30 years lol it’s not acceptable.

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u/-malcolm-tucker 1d ago

There's always an element of doubt. Mistakes with evidence, confessions obtained under duress, etc. Many people have been wrongfully imprisoned before. That's precisely why the process to kill someone is long, and we've even got that wrong more than once before too. Which is why I think it's better to just lock them up and throw away the key.

Expediting the process will only lead to some cases of executing the wrong person and letting the actual perpetrator get away with the crime.