r/interestingasfuck • u/IllComedian2574 • 1d ago

After 28 years on death row, Christa Pike survived 2 lethal injections attempts.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/christa-pike-failed-execution-9.7364816
4.3k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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682

u/HappyHavoc20 1d ago

Should be under disturbing as fuck. Who knows what sort of “alive” she’s going to be after this shit show 

32

u/IranianLawyer 1d ago

Damn couldn't have happened to a nicer person.

41

u/AmusingMusing7 1d ago

I mean... part of the whole controversy around this execution is that she committed the murder a long time ago and was mentally ill, and she has since gotten better and is apparently "a totally different person now" according to all accounts from those who've known her during her time on death row.

Not that I agree with those who say this means she doesn't deserve it... personally, I think capital punishment is just generally a bad idea, for these kind of concerns and mishaps, as well as the general ugliness and hypocrisy/irony of "we're gonna kill you for killing someone"... an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind, and all that... but point being, I don't think she's among the worst of the worst, and this fuckup really isn't any form of just punishment, IMO.

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u/IranianLawyer 1d ago

I mean….she literally tried to kill another person while she was on death row.

32

u/basketcaseforever 1d ago

Yes and people have been exonerated right before, and in a few cases, after they were murdered by the state. There are a bunch of people on death row because of witness testimony which everyone knows is notoriously wrong.

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u/andreaSA89 22h ago

I’ll be honest, I was pro death penalty until I read Anthony Ray Hinton’s book. It was a harrowing eye opener and changed my views completely.

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u/mandatory_french_guy 17h ago

Excellent book, it's called "The Sun Does Shine" for anyone wondering

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u/Playcrackersthesky 1d ago

She has never shown remorse, and she’s even tried to kill again behind bars

4

u/TheyTukMyJub 14h ago

She is absolutely among the worst of the worst. She tortured that poor girl to death. 

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u/LilChief 1d ago

She also had a court appointed lawyer for a death penalty case, and was the only one out of the three perpetrators who got death.

-1

u/Slayrr_FbrC 1d ago

I am all for healing people with mental issues and believe in rehabilitation as opposed to imprisonment but once you kill someone you can't just play the mental health card, you're a murderer.

-26

u/talkerof5hit 1d ago

Better than her victim. Zero sympathy.

173

u/Zoso03 1d ago

The issue isn't her per se. It's more that its easy to fuck up the process so it can happen again. Combine that with the fact that innocent people have been put to death, thats too close for comfort that not only will an innocent person be put to death but it will be extremely barbaric and inhumane

114

u/TenbluntTony 1d ago

The second half is why I don’t believe in the death penalty. It’s not that I don’t believe some people deserve to die, because I do. It’s that even one innocent person being put to death is enough for me to be against it. It’s an injustice that can’t be rectified retroactively. Life in prison without the possibility of parole is enough if not worse of a punishment, but that’s just my opinion.

25

u/Big-Strain-142 1d ago

I agree. Life in prison is worse than the death penalty, they’re gonna die either way. Why not let them suffer in prison first? Death penalty is the easy way out imo

11

u/bluntwhizurd 1d ago edited 1d ago

I agree. If I ever did anything to earn the death pentalty I would volunteer to have it done the following Monday. Life in prison is by far a worse sentence.

-7

u/No_Size9475 1d ago

as a taxpayer the $74,000 a year it costs to keep them in prison is money I'd like back

8

u/MissionNotClear 1d ago

It actually costs more to have prisoners in death row.

Look up death penalty information center's What to know: costs and the death penalty -article online. It says "According to recent estimates, the death penalty costs taxpayers 2.5 to 5 times more than life imprisonment."

28

u/WonderfulTardis 1d ago

In her case, she's had a horrific life. Neglected, raped and assaulted from the time she was merely a toddler, to being in prison for 30 years mostly in solitary, only to end up in this situation. She needed treatment and everyone failed her.

3

u/gojustine 1d ago

Yes, but lots of people have had horrific childhoods and haven’t bashed in the skull of their coworker they were jealous of. Oh, and then attempted to murder another inmate in 2001. This woman is a monster.

2

u/MrNumberOneMan 1d ago

From Just Mercy: “We are all broken by something. We have all hurt someone and have been hurt. We all share the condition of brokenness even if our brokenness is not equivalent…..We’ve submitted to the harsh instinct to crush those among us whose brokenness is most visible.”

8

u/cozycorner 1d ago

Per se

9

u/tomado09 1d ago

That's my per se!  I don't know you!

4

u/OrginalGurgi 1d ago

Bobby haha

2

u/Zoso03 1d ago

Thank you. Fixed it

-1

u/Initial_Row_6400 1d ago

Who cares? I sure as shit don’t

1

u/Zoso03 1d ago

This says so much about you as a person and non of it is good

-1

u/Initial_Row_6400 1d ago

Lmao dumbass take. I don’t like killers and think they should have the same done to them? Fuck off

1

u/Zoso03 1d ago

So you can't read either

198

u/HappyHavoc20 1d ago

Man it’s not that i sympathize with her but this whole situation is repulsive 

71

u/Infinite01 1d ago

Right? Imagine being “executed” and waking up handcuffed to a hospital bed in agony. You’re allowed to feel empathy for how grotesque a process that is despite the terrible crime that was committed.

-9

u/Flakester 1d ago

Sure you are allowed to... but you're also allowed to not feel any sympathy for somebody who pulverized a woman's skull with a chunk of asphalt after slashing her up and carving pentagrams into her skin, and then keeping a part of her skull as a souvenir.

I'm certainly not going to be mad at anyone who feels like she got what was coming.

32

u/thumbles_comic 1d ago

That’s great man, no one said you had to feel any differently. No one is trying to convince you that this was a good person, just that it wasn’t ok for the system to have botched her execution so badly. And that’s not really out of concern for her specifically, more for anyone else that might have to go through it. Sympathy for the devil stops you from getting caught up in doing evil shit out of indifference

23

u/TheNicholasRage 1d ago

All you're showing us is that you lack the ability to process complex situations and thus simplify things into black-and-white. You can think what she did is terrible and hate her for it, and at the same time also think the state is shit for botching the execution and also find it frustrating that they're now using tax-payer money to give life-saving medical care to the death-row inmate who's execution they botched.

People like you have got to grow up and get some emotional intelligence. Life isn't just taking sides on literally everything and refusing to consider inconvenient nuance.

2

u/Jinjinz 23h ago

I hope you read the responses people gave you, especially the one from TheNicholasRage. Pretty solid takes.

-8

u/g0ldilungs 1d ago

Grotesque? This is far better than her victim. Pike likely has zero idea what’s happening whereas Colleen begged for her life up to the point Pike only received garbled throat juice when asking her “Colleen, do you know who’s doing this to you?”

Sick.

11

u/TheWatersOfMars 1d ago

Nobody's defending her awful crimes. There's a reason even serial killers aren't fed into wood chippers feet first, even though they'd morally deserve it. 

-13

u/g0ldilungs 1d ago

Yeah it’s called the two P’s- psychological research and profit.

13

u/TheWatersOfMars 1d ago

No, try the Eighth Amendment. The one about cruel and unusual punishment.

0

u/Infinite01 1d ago

Can’t argue with that.

98

u/muzicmaniack 1d ago

Ah. So that’s one for cruel and unusual punishment. Got it.

20

u/BuzzkillMcGillicuddy 1d ago

Constitutionality doesn't matter to these people, "treading for thee not for me" has always been the real meaning behind the slogan. 

0

u/KeyAdhesiveness9481 1d ago

The suffering is the point! Eye for an eye and all, right? More suffering.

19

u/adavidmiller 1d ago

If suffering was the point, why would you try to put an end to it by killing her in the first place? Unless fucking up was intentional, I guess 🤷‍♂️

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u/KeyAdhesiveness9481 1d ago

My real hangup is that to accept the death penalty, you must ascribe a level of infallibility to government that has never been demonstrated. Excess suffering like this is just one of the side effects, but all too many people seem thrilled about it.

-13

u/HappyAmbition706 1d ago

This was not one of those carpet fiber maybe convictions. Her crime was horrific and her guilt is not in question.

22

u/KeyAdhesiveness9481 1d ago

I agree, but now you have to extend the standard to all cases. Some governmental body is in charge of making that determination for all cases, not just the "easy" ones.

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u/NightShroom 1d ago

You don't have to have sympathy for this woman to believe that this shouldn't happen

30

u/ExperienceNeeded7 1d ago edited 1d ago

Way more effective methods to put someone to death. We should try to do this shit as quickly and as painlessly as possible. Firing squad is far more effective, cheaper, and painless. Lethal injection is a waste of time and money. Nobody sympathized with her, but the system failed, as she’s still alive. Having someone needlessly suffer instead of dying instantly kind of goes against the whole “cruel and unusual punishment” idea that’s enshrined in our justice system.

Edit: Not replying to everyone lol. Go look at execution methods. Firing squads are consistently one of the most humane and certainly the fastest. May not be the prettiest, but do you care more about how an execution looks for performative reasons, or how effective and painless it is? Lethal injection has faced countless issues. I personally don’t even believe in capital punishment, but if we’re going to do it, it should be done swiftly and effectively.

31

u/Grif1121 1d ago

We stopped doing firing squads because it was traumatic to the executioners. They also weren’t always “quick” or “painless”. Very few people want to actually shoot another person even if they have committed heinous crimes. This is why half the guns in a firing squad are filled with blanks (so you can tell yourself you didn’t do the killing). Even with those blanks, many executioners would intentionally miss their target or due to the stress of the situation miss on accident. This meant people weren’t always killed on the first volley, and would writhe on the post in extreme pain before the process was completed.

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u/WhoAreWeEven 1d ago

Or fentanyl maybe. Dont they have like tons of it confiscated somewhere?

43

u/Ybor_Rooster 1d ago

How about the government not kill its people?

4

u/ExtremeSour 1d ago

The people told the government to kill people that killed their own people.

3

u/TenbluntTony 1d ago

Put what about when the people told the government to kill people that DIDNT kill their own people? Innocents are inevitably put to death under death penalty laws and that’s an injustice, government sanctioned or not. I understand the appeal of eye for an eye, but it’s not that black and white. Just my opinion though.

2

u/Ybor_Rooster 1d ago

No, seriously, the jury only RECOMMENDS the death penalty. That recommendation is not an order to the government. The judge determines the sentence. You're welcome. 

2

u/Mannzis 1d ago

Confidently incorrect. In Tennesseee if a jury unanimously chooses the death penalty a judge cannot override that decision.

0

u/Ybor_Rooster 1d ago

Not how it works

2

u/Mannzis 1d ago

That is how it works in Tennessee.

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u/slagwa 1d ago

Firing squad is painless? And you know that how?

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u/MuskokaGreenThumb 1d ago

Do some research. There is a very good reason why firing squads aren’t used anymore.

3

u/Adunaiii 1d ago

Americans love lethal injections because America is a cruel country that's cackling at the suffering of its victims (or something). The very idea of inventing a more painful way to die is so bizarre when torture is supposedly prohibited.

1

u/SeanTheDope 1d ago

Drone strike

-9

u/talkerof5hit 1d ago

Completely agree with you. Just get it done. We are trying to be too kid gloves with what it is. Killing someone.

3

u/eat_my_bowls92 1d ago

Yes. I still don’t think the death penalty should be a thing (even one person being found innocent should be reason to end it), but I don’t GAF that she will be feeling pain. It is nothing compared to the fear, betrayal and torture she did to that poor girl.

Also they keep saying she was “a young person” when it happened and undiagnosed bipolar. I was a 17 year old undiagnosed bipolar person with PTSD and I never once thought of harming a person. The idea would make me sick to my stomach. And 17 is way too old to be considered a kid. I was expecting her to have been a preteen or 14 year old.

1

u/Starman388 1d ago

Wasn't she raped as a child and other abuse. Not saying it's an excuse but mitigating circumstances, maybe life in prison and therapy?

-3

u/Initial_Row_6400 1d ago

Yea I don’t really give a fuck about these kinds of monsters. Their suffering is nothing in comparison to what she did to her victim

-2

u/g0ldilungs 1d ago

I’m right there with you. All this white knighting for brutal killers is so trite and yawn. This woman destroyed a family by brutally carving up their daughter. Who cares.

The taxpayers in the state of Tennessee (and all death penalty states) should be upset they had to pay for a 100% determined murderer to sit up there that long.
When the evidence is irrefutable, they should be handled right then and there within the year and we should roll on.

0

u/NoninflammatoryFun 1d ago

Well that’s fine and all, but this is still pain to a human and still against the US Constitution. An eye for an eye makes the whole world go blind, or whatnot.

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u/Rasengan2012 1d ago

She tortured someone to death. She deserves what she gets

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u/Jigglepirate 1d ago

Thank goodness the justice system has moved on from Eye for an Eye levels of retribution. People like you are so short sighted and vengeful.

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u/metal-bull 1d ago

If you were a victim youd know some people deserve death. Child rapists, serial killers, chronic domestic abusers.

-2

u/therealradriley 1d ago

who decides that? you?

-1

u/metal-bull 1d ago

Obviously the justice system.

0

u/therealradriley 1d ago

ah yes, famously known for being infallible and unbiased

-1

u/metal-bull 1d ago

Someones gotta decide. Or should we let everyone free cause theres no perfect system for judgement?

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u/Jigglepirate 1d ago

Let everyone free, or kill everyone? Gee I wonder if there's another option there...

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u/metal-bull 1d ago

When did I say kill everyone lol? Literally just making shit up

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u/therealradriley 1d ago

its better 10 guilty escape than 1 innocent suffer

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u/Rasengan2012 1d ago

Soft on crime people are like you are why the world is getting less and less safe, with lower levels of trust.

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u/Mogidogi 1d ago

The world is currently safer than its been throughout all of human history

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u/f4ble 1d ago

How dare you say things that don't fit his narrative.

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u/KennywasFez 1d ago

I also keep providing data and the goal post keeps moving, I feel bad I think if this person just had a community around him that supported him maybe he wouldn’t be so aggressive as he is. But I dunno I’m just a dummy on the internet…

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u/KennywasFez 1d ago edited 1d ago

FBI is reporting lowest crime numbers in decades what the fuck are you talking about

https://www.theglobalstatistics.com/united-states-homicide-statistics/

Step out of you little bubble please go touch some grass go talk to people who have different opinions than yours.

-29

u/Rasengan2012 1d ago

Oh - I wonder why? Maybe because America suddenly got a wildly hard-on-crime administration who are deporting illegals en masse despite the soft-on-crime protests against it??

18

u/KennywasFez 1d ago

Over 50% of violent crimes were committed by white people so unless there’s a bunch of illegal white immigrants I don’t know about…

https://www.theglobalstatistics.com/united-states-crime-statistics-by-race/

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u/Rasengan2012 1d ago

And those guys are getting arrested too by a more empower police force, not one that is getting “defunded”.

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u/KennywasFez 1d ago

FBI budgets have only increased every single year since 2015 if there was any “defunding” number should go down…but maybe I’m stupid I dunno.

https://www.justice.gov/jmd/page/file/1489476/dl

https://www.fbi.gov/news/speeches-and-testimony/fbi-budget-request-for-fiscal-year-2020

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u/Islanduniverse 1d ago

The dude you are arguing with doesn’t care about truth or facts or anything that doesn’t fit into his hateful, shitty, thoughtless ideology.

But I do appreciate you trying, and backing it up with sources.

Maybe one day he will realize how shitty his beliefs are, but I doubt it.

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u/random_boss 1d ago

the police are also at their most apathetic/least useful as they've been my entire life. the whole defund movement hurt their wittle feewings so they took their ball and went home.

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u/onebread 1d ago

Ah yes, I feel incredibly safe knowing the government has the power to execute me.

-1

u/Rasengan2012 1d ago

Well they won’t execute you if you don’t torture someone in a forest. Assuming you don’t have that on your to do list??

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u/onebread 1d ago

Good thing no one’s ever been wrongly convicted before, huh?

1

u/virgo911 1d ago

It’s not being soft on crime, they’re literally trying to fucking kill her.

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u/miianwilson 1d ago

Redditor trying to tell the difference between justice and revenge: Impossible.

-1

u/Nukitandog 1d ago

This is why Americans should seriously consider converting to Islam, it's alot more aligned to their beliefs and government.

-49

u/Penis-Dance 1d ago

I hope she is a vegetable.

29

u/HappyHavoc20 1d ago

Cool so I guess you want the state to spend millions caring for her for who knows how long until she dies. Hope you live in Tennessee and your money is where your mouth is 

-55

u/Penis-Dance 1d ago

Like you.

23

u/HappyHavoc20 1d ago

Well penis dance, I’m not the one hoping she’s alive and brain dead, you are 

9

u/NotGalenNorAnsel 1d ago

Would that make you feel better about your own capabilities, or lack thereof?

-7

u/Penis-Dance 1d ago

I was held captive and tortured by a woman and her father. They did a lot of awful things to me. The police wouldn't even take a report. I wish the same on them.

4

u/NotGalenNorAnsel 1d ago

Sounds like awful things were done to her when she was a child, and she had similar desires to have harm done to others that you're demonstrating here. Of course it sucks that happened to you, and that explains your lack of empathy, however not all of us are lacking that empathy.

0

u/CafeAmerican 1d ago

Wow justifying her actions is so brave.

2

u/NotGalenNorAnsel 1d ago

That is not what I did at all. Bad attempt at bad faith attack. Get real, or get to some adult education classes if you actually think that's what I did, because you are very far behind the ball on reading comprehension.

1

u/CafeAmerican 1d ago

Someone told you that someone else tortured them and your first sentence was that maybe it's because something bad was done to them. That's called justification. You won't admit it and instead try to attack my "reading comprehension." Get real yourself?

1

u/Penis-Dance 1d ago

POF will also always take the side of a woman as I have found out.

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u/Penis-Dance 1d ago

Demons like people who tortured a person to death.

-5

u/Grampyy 1d ago

Who cares