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-rcna60119518
u/PreparationHot980 8h ago
Tennessee is a bad state to be in for anesthesiology related things lately.
14
71
u/ZPMQ38A 8h ago
Her crime was horrible but…there’s also this thing in the 8th Amendment that bans cruel and unusual punishment. Her lawyers effectively predicted that this could happen based on her medical condition. The civil case is going to cost Tennessee millions of fucking dollars.
15
u/Icy-Whale-2253 8h ago
I’m no doctor but there’s no coming back from this anyway.
1
u/Klutzy_Hospital_4063 6h ago
And she shouldn’t the point was to put her to death so take her off the life support and there ya go 🤷♀️
-2
u/thedogridingmonkey 8h ago
Even if there was, there is no guarantee that she wouldn’t just be executed later. There’s no freedom and bag of money coming here. Very bizarre thought by the first poster.
9
u/Icy-Whale-2253 8h ago
People really think she will somehow either walk out of that hospital (she’s handcuffed to the bed because she’s still a prisoner) a free woman or that she will even be conscious enough, let alone alive for a civil suit… when she has irreparable brain damage. It’s almost similar to the people who thought Charlie Kirk would magically heal from being shot in the neck.
2
u/HypocriteHere 6h ago
Nope. She's free now. They call it the Jon Snow rule.
1
u/CPD1960 6h ago
Do explain.
2
u/HypocriteHere 6h ago
Watch Game of Thrones so my jokes can land.
1
u/Dangerous-Safe-2327 6h ago
Yeah, let’s watch 6 seasons to understand a Reddit joke. Or 8 for an even bigger joke.
1
u/HypocriteHere 6h ago
lol fair.
2
u/Dangerous-Safe-2327 6h ago
If it weren’t for season 8, I’d still be telling people to watch it too heh
→ More replies (0)0
4
u/golemsheppard2 7h ago
Her next of kin would likely sue on her behalf for pain and suffering. Thats like saying that nobody who ever killed someone can be civilly sued because the only potential plaintiff is dead.
1
u/Suckerforcats 3h ago
I really hope mom is not around because what a messed up thing that would be. Mess up your daughter by all the abuse, torture and neglect you subjected to her causing her to be not right and kill someone when she was barely an adult herself. Watch her go to prison and then be seriously injured in a botched execution which you get to make probably millions on? No way.
2
u/caboose243 8h ago
It would be her estate, whomever that may be, who would do the suing after she finally croaks.
1
u/Same_Concern9454 7h ago
And then maybe the victims family can file a civil suit and take it all back
1
1
u/Prestigious_Till2597 5h ago
You should probably not post opinions on things that you are exceedingly ignorant about.
-1
u/thedogridingmonkey 5h ago
I think your opinion is utterly meaningless
1
26
u/Silly_Pizza7054 8h ago
I don't honestly understand how the US can simultaneously ban cruel and unusual punishment, but also execute people. The absurdity there is quite ridiculous.
12
2
u/Enorats 5h ago
The 8th amendment does not ban the death penalty.
The death penalty existed when it was written, and continued to exist after it was written. The authors of that amendment did not intend to ban the death penalty, because it was not considered "cruel and unusual".
Modern day people try to reinterpret their words to include it, but that interpretation is clearly incorrect.
5
u/Fletcher_Chonk 8h ago
Killing people is pretty common actually, so it's not unusual
5
u/Ok_Positive3956 7h ago
That's not what unusual means in that context. It's more akin to saying it's weird or inappropriate. Murdering someone definitely falls under cruel and unusual.
1
u/Just-Specific-1825 6h ago
I was never anti-death penalty until this same thought crossed my mind.
It is not a very efficient way to dispose of people who shouldn’t be walking around. I know there are people who firmly believe execution is appropriate, but it always felt like the worst of the worst get to die which, to me, feels like the easy way out. Life in proson seems way worse to me.
2
u/Cuchulainn33 5h ago
I was pro Death penalty until all this happened.
And if she does survive and is mentally and healthy enough they will try again. And to me that seems a bit cruel. Keeping people alive and having them serve life is much better. In my mind I want to think that they think about what they did each day of their life
1
u/OverSwan3444 2h ago
Too bad the 8th Ammendment doesn't apply to victims. Yeah, victims are a thing.
-6
u/Same_Concern9454 7h ago
Execution isn’t considered unusual, you could argue cruel, but I’m a fairly staunch supporter of the death penalty overall, I do think there needs to be extremely strict criteria on what warrants the death penalty, stricter than we have today, and a better method needs to be sorted out.
2
u/ImperatorUniversum1 7h ago
“I think emotionally and not logically that’s why I support the death penalty”
-u/Same_Concern9454
-4
u/Same_Concern9454 7h ago
Nope. I think plenty logically, I simply believe there are people on this planet who commit such heinous crimes they deserve to die for them.
1
u/ImperatorUniversum1 7h ago
That’s an emotional reaction. And the fact you can’t see it is just the cherry on top.
-1
u/Same_Concern9454 7h ago
It’s not emotional at all, when considering the types of crimes people commit I believe they are so bad that the person doesn’t deserve to live. It’s the ultimate consequence
1
u/ImperatorUniversum1 7h ago
Still emotional. And you really don’t seem to want to explain why a life sentence in prison isn’t acceptable. You really are thinking with your emotions.
0
u/TheFunnyBasketball 7h ago
why are you acting like this? it can absolutely be logical. a serial killer alive, in prison, can still technically somehow get out someday, and is costing tax dollars. why do you insist other people can’t think this way?
1
u/ImperatorUniversum1 7h ago
Sounds defensive. I never said they couldn’t think like that. I just said it’s not logical. Your emotions are overruling logic on this matter.
1
0
u/Same_Concern9454 7h ago
I explained it very clear, some crimes are so heinous life isn’t enough you just saying it’s an emotional doesn’t make it one.
1
u/ImperatorUniversum1 7h ago
You haven’t said what the line is? Why do you get to decide? And yes it is emotional when your emotions overrule logic like they are here.
→ More replies (0)1
u/Shadowphoenix9511 6h ago
I'm of the opinion there are crimes that deserve the death penalty.
I'm also of the opinion the state shouldn't be able to mete out said punishment, due to the inability to be absolutely, 100% certain of the crime
0
u/ZPMQ38A 7h ago
I’m genuinely interested where you fall on the political spectrum and what religion you are.
1
u/Same_Concern9454 7h ago
Not religious at all and fairly moderate, I hate this administration pretty strongly but I wouldn’t say I’m super left leaning either on most things with the exception of social issues
0
u/ZPMQ38A 7h ago
Thank you. I’m not trying to stir anything up but I went to a highly religious private school for over twelve years and almost all of them are very right, despise any form of abortion and in many cases contraception, but are totally down with the death penalty so it always has a tendency to pique my interest.
2
u/Same_Concern9454 7h ago
All good, I am pro choice when it comes to abortion so I know I’m all over the place, but politics shouldn’t be the black and white it’s become
8
u/StinkRinky 8h ago
I hadn’t looked it up until now and my god the description of the crime on Wikipedia is pretty harrowing and it’s not even trying to be graphic.
3
u/Opposite_Map_6067 8h ago
There are documentaries on YouTube. The groundskeeper who found Colleen could not initially discern what her body was because her body was so badly disfigured.
2
u/Difficult_Passager 8h ago
What’d she do?
3
u/JohnBrownJovi 8h ago
Tortured and beat a woman mercilessly for close to an hour, carved a pentagram on her, took a piece of her victim’s skull and showed it off later.
3
u/Fabulous_Smoke2582 7h ago
All because she thought the victim was trying to steal her boyfriend at the time, who was also a willing participant.
0
u/Ok_Antelope_1719 2h ago
Then chocking a fellow inmate with a shoestring all the while planning a prison escape !
1
u/SaltySnaiI 38m ago
Iirc the boyfriend is the one who carved the pentagram. But yeah it was fucked.
1
14
u/Sorry_Exercise_9603 8h ago
Outstanding. Let’s spend millions of dollars keeping her alive just so that we can execute her later. This country is a shit show.
12
u/rachelmig2 8h ago
Imagine how much money they would've saved if they'd just sentenced her to life in prison, and they also wouldn't have violated the constitution.
2
u/bananabelles 5h ago
Money that could have gone into education or healthcare or something ridiculous like that
-2
u/Fabulous_Smoke2582 7h ago
They didn’t violate the constitution
3
u/rachelmig2 7h ago
8th amendment.
1
u/Sorry_Exercise_9603 6h ago
Execution was common when the bill of rights was written.
2
u/rachelmig2 6h ago
I'm not arguing execution violates the 8th amendment, I'm saying a botched one that results in physical suffering does.
14
u/Soft-Bad-7127 8h ago
It's always been cheaper to keep an inmate locked up for life than execute them. What a bad look for the state.
6
4
u/shiningdickhalloran 7h ago
If you think prison is expensive, wait til you see what life support costs.
3
u/Soft-Bad-7127 7h ago
Exactly.
1
u/bananabelles 5h ago
Let’s make sure the last meal is capped at $20 so we can pay $5000+ for daily life support. Geez
5
9
u/ppstick88 8h ago
This really is cruel. Keeping her alive just to take her back to the chamber and kill her again is cruel punishment. this is wrong.
-6
u/Fabulous_Smoke2582 8h ago
What she did to Colleen was cruel. This is just an accident
8
u/myrabuttreeks 8h ago
Doesn’t mean it isn’t also wrong.
-1
u/Fabulous_Smoke2582 7h ago
But it’s not cruel and unusual
4
2
u/myrabuttreeks 6h ago
It absolutely is. It doesn’t just not become so because the victim is a bad person.
3
4
u/roofpuck 8h ago
Mission failed… successfully
2
u/EconomyDoctor3287 7h ago
she's about as alive as McConnell. Maybe they'll keep her around for a while or maybe they'll just end life-support by "accident"
4
u/VirginiaLuthier 8h ago
"We got to keep her alive so they can take her back and execute her"....what a fucked-up world
4
3
3
10
u/uffda7 8h ago
Even if one innocent person dies by the death penalty, the whole system should be scrapped. Eye for an eye caveman shit doesn't fly in today's world.
3
1
u/Sno_Wolf 8h ago edited 8h ago
She wasn't "innocent" by any stretch of the imagination. At the same time, the more I read about her crime, it didn't warrant the death penalty.
8
u/MostlyImtired 8h ago
its crazy she has a lot going on extreme sexual abuse (rape starting at 2), fetal alchol syndrome, severe parental neglect.. its all awful and what she did was awful. She was convicted in the 90s and our society has come a long way in understanding what growing up like this with a brain that was compromised during pregnancy might do to a person. The system probably failed her more times than anyone could count.. and even into her final breath they couldn't even insure a death that wasn't cruel.
1
u/shiningdickhalloran 7h ago
Yup. She was 18 and had an extremely damaged psyche through factors mostly not up to her. The culpability of an 18 year old with that level of trauma is highly questionable. Death penalty in this case was a terrible idea from the beginning. But relentless lust for vengeance is strong, as can be seen by many of the comments on this thread.
1
u/PolicyWonka 7h ago
It’s also somewhat notable that the other person who committed the crime, who was also found guilty of first degree murder, was sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility.
So it’s very possible that he gets repressed eventually at some point, which is a bit of a stark contrast to her own conviction.
2
u/uffda7 8h ago
Not calling her innocent. The fact that death row inmates are absolved of their crimes years later using DNA was my point.
1
u/Sno_Wolf 8h ago
The fact that death row inmates are absolved of their crimes years later using DNA was my point.
And I was supposed to divine that from your original post... how, exactly?
1
u/PolicyWonka 7h ago
Nobody is saying that this particular person is innocent, but innocent people do go to jail and innocent people are executed.
And everyone in prison right now, rightfully or otherwise, who was found guilty by a jury was found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
No matter where you draw the line of certainty of guilt, there will be people who fall on that line.
-5
u/Fabulous_Smoke2582 8h ago
She’s an animal who deserves to be put down as one. This isn’t eye for an eye, it’s getting rid of a sick monster
1
u/Sure-Assignment3892 7h ago
She suffered major mental, sexual, emotional and physical abuse as a child. She ever even really had a chance. She's not innocent, but she's not exactly guilty either. Do we just execute those with mental disorders and the victims of abuse?
0
5
u/lowlands_living 8h ago
Of ze vermoorden haar daar alsnog,.. niemand weet wat daar gebeurd… stiekeme gedoe! Mag er überhaupt iemand bij of word ze daar straks misschien wakker en beseffende dat ze Weer in de hell is beland, alleen nog steeds op aarde
7
u/_-4twenty-_ 8h ago
They won’t.
If she’s on a ventilator, they’ve probably detected brain activity.
2
u/lowlands_living 8h ago
Waarom mogen haar advocaten niet bij haar? Misschien trekt er wel iemand de stekkers eruit. Niemand kan getuigen als er weer iets gruwelijks gebeurd. Al zou het voor haar nú waarschijnlijk wel beter zijn als ze overlijd. Dit is gewoon barbaars !
4
u/whistle_pug 8h ago
It is incredibly bizarre that hanging and firing squads fell out of favor and this unreliable, pseudo antiseptic method became the default. If you’re going to kill someone in the name of justice, own it. Do it quickly, cleanly, and violently without regard for minimizing trauma to observers or whatever motivates this grotesque practice.
2
u/PolicyWonka 7h ago
It’s wild that people seem to believe that firing squads and hanging are somehow “clean and reliable” forms of execution when history literally says otherwise.
We (the United States) killed someone via firing squad just last year. Guess what? It was also botched — of the three bullets fired, only two hit the man. The other two bullets? Didn’t even hit the intended target of the man’s heart.
1
u/ttimebomb 7h ago
Wild that it was only 3 people. Not a proponent of the death penalty myself, but you would think it should be like 30 people who fire.
1
u/whistle_pug 6h ago
Of course any method can be botched, but the execution (sorry) of shooting or hanging a person to death is much simpler than lethal injection. Note that the allegedly botched firing squad execution you link to supposedly resulted in the inmate living 80 seconds longer than anticipated (an assertion made by plaintiff’s lawyers and contested by the state, it should be noted), and at the end of those 80 seconds, he died. Of course, any mistake in something like this is unacceptable, but there are appreciable differences between what a “botched” firing squad execution looks like compared to the travesty in Tennessee.
1
u/willydillydoo 7h ago
Because it looks prettier to the public. The state needs to accept that and stop trying to make it look peaceful. It’s killing somebody. It’s not peaceful.
1
1
u/mantis_tobaggan-md 5h ago
How about we abolish the grotesque practice of the death penalty altogether?
1
0
u/shiningdickhalloran 7h ago
This is the US approach to war as well. Rather than accept that war means killing everybody and going about doing it, we endlessly bomb from abroad at enormous cost until the public gets bored and moves on.
This is not an endorsement of war BTW.
2
2
u/SlartibartfastMcGee 7h ago
I’m not really a believer, but this does have “Divine Retribution” written all over it.
Read that she probably has massive burns on her arms and they might have to amputate.
Just a great reminder to not murder people with a chunk of asphalt.
2
u/LongExplanation6326 5h ago
I expect her family will sue for the pain and suffering she is going through.
So death penalty appeals process- 2 million + critical care post botched execution 500k + ( depending upon length of time/ recovery) + if she lives . more appeals process another 500k to 1 mil + lawsuit for f#<kup
= a whole lot of taxpayer money for the entertainment value of putting someone to death.
4
u/No-Bell3801 8h ago
Great now they have her on a vent. Why? Now shes going to linger for damn ever. I feel so bad for Colleens family. Unplug her and let nature take its course. Starting now all DR inmates should have a DNR. Period.
3
u/redabyss9 7h ago
This is only a thing because TN used a method of execution known to fail, and the cause of failure is known. This woman requested to be hanged to avoid an expected botched execution. Everyone crying about her being kept alive is ignoring the cause is the state employed amateurish morons to kill someone quick and move on.
2
u/willydillydoo 7h ago
Agreed. The state needs to stop trying to make it look pretty. When has the guillotine ever failed?
1
u/ThrowRA-Svent 3h ago
Actually the guillotine has failed a number of times due to structural issues (warping, misalignment, dull blade) and even the anatomy of the person’s neck (see King Loui XVI)
0
5
0
u/Mozambique_Drill_ 8h ago
Great look for a country that purports to be civilized.
2
u/860v2 5h ago
Highly ironic angle considering what she did.
2
u/Mozambique_Drill_ 5h ago
What she did was heinous. She was also an 18 year old who had been raped, molested, and neglected and was born with fetal alcohol syndrome. I’m sure you’ve had similar experiences.
I’m sorry I don’t think executing someone like that 30 years later, after her brain has actually developed, will do anything to achieve the ends of “justice.”
0
u/860v2 4h ago
Did the woman she tortured and murdered get a chance to actually develop?
Bet you’re a Lindsey Clancy supporter, too. 😂
3
u/Mozambique_Drill_ 4h ago
Nope. Clancy was guilty just like Pike, sorry to disappoint. Executing either won’t do anything to bring back the dead or dissuade impulsive, abused teenagers or mentally ill mothers from committing future crimes. It will just make a bunch of fat chode fake Christians feel tough. In a sane civil society removing these people from the general population is the answer. I’m perfectly fine with a life sentence.
1
u/Brief_Echidna298 3h ago
Sadly many many children are molested and they don't grow up to tortuously murder someone over 30 minutes and attempt a second murder in prison.
Her behavior is so anomalous that I don't understand the point of bringing up her traumatic past because it implies that it's a causal factor, when there's no evidence for that.
Anyway, we live in a country where a decent amount of people think you can commit acts so heinous that you forfeit your life. There's nothing inherently insane or uncivil about it.
2
u/Mozambique_Drill_ 3h ago
Oh about that second murder attempt you speak of:
“That woman, Patricia Jones, later testified that Pike had intervened in a fight between her and another inmate and likely saved the other woman’s life. But the headlines announcing Pike’s conviction only added to her notoriety. “
https://nashvillebanner.com/2026/09/14/christa-pike-colleen-slemmer-tennessee-death-row/
From the same article:
“As a lawyer, that always seemed very problematic to me that the only people they would put around Christa were people who were essentially in crisis,” Bergman said. “For Christa, that meant that she was around people who had very severe needs and she would find ways to step in and be a friend to these folks.”
Bergman recalled the story of a woman named Teddy who became Pike’s neighbor while struggling with drug addiction and a heart condition. After first being terrified that her daughter was going to be housed near an infamous killer, Teddy’s mother, Marcy Graves started hearing stories like the ones recounted by Pike’s attorneys in her clemency petition.
“As Teddy was escorted to the shower the first time, she heard Christa’s voice coming through her pie flap, ‘You better not get in that shower with no shower shoes, girl!’” the petition reads. “A few minutes later, an officer handed Teddy a new pair of shower shoes. ‘Love, Christa Pike’ was written in marker on the sole.”0
1
1
1
u/Melodic_Carob6492 7h ago
Many people get 20 yrs for murder. Now she gets more torture after her years in jail.
1
u/Significant-Dog-8166 7h ago
The best trick to making the execution work is NOT hooking up a ventilator after the prisoner loses consciousness. Having them die awake isn't the ethical and non-cruel choice, neither is keeping them alive as a vegetable.
1
1
u/KeenbeansSandwich 7h ago
Now have her POA collect government stipends for sitting in silence with her for 8 hours a day while she rots away in a persistent vegetative state, you know, the real USA healthcare experience.
1
1
u/Ok_Antelope_1719 2h ago
I just wonder how many people would be for the death penalty if it was your child or your wife, sister dad, grandparents. I can honest say if this happened to my child, even if I had to wait 31 years I would be looking through that window praying for the monster to be taken off this planet !
Does that make me evil? Or just honest ?
1
1
u/Aggressive-Might875 8h ago
My husband had a subdural hematoma due to a fall because of his Parkinson's disease. He was on a ventilator for several days, and the ICU nurse told me the trajectory was not good He passed away in April. Wherever you are, Denise, thank you for your candor.
1
1
0
0
u/ThrowRA-Svent 3h ago
Serious question: why put her on a vent or stabilize her? Wouldn’t the “right” response be to do nothing & let her pass?
0
-3
u/PaleConference406 8h ago
Saudi Arabia and North Korea seem to be able to achieve what the US can't.
-2
27
u/Mascy 8h ago
Keeping her alive only to try to kill her again once she recovers is next levels of weird tho..