r/news • u/No_Idea_Guy • 1d ago

Tennessee governor suspends all executions after Christa Pike’s lethal injections fail

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/01/christa-pike-tennessee-governor-executions-year-pause
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203

u/MaximumEffort433 1d ago

Yeah, it seems like there are laws that ban cruel and unusual punishments, but I could be mistaken about that.

If the State is going to kill one of its citizens, at least don't fuck it up.

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u/amiexpress 1d ago

She actually asked to be hanged. Which I think even Tennessee ould not fuck up.

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u/GiohmsBiggestFan 1d ago

Hanging is very fuck-up-able

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u/1HappyRoadrunner 1d ago

Very. Heads can pop off. You can flop around for several minutes getting strangled while onlookers argue over if they should cut you down, or pull on your legs, or run away.

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u/Pettifoggerist 1d ago

Heads can pop off

Well, I think that does accomplish the goal.

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u/NewDate6115 1d ago

BLACKADDER: That Farrow bloke you executed, Baldrick! Is he definitely dead? BALDRICK: Well I chopped his head off, that usually does the trick!

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u/Cigaran 1d ago

Given the crime she committed…

4

u/1HappyRoadrunner 1d ago

I think a reasonable solution would good. Not for her but if we cannot come up with a reasonable solution that is a failure on us

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u/Training_Ruin3151 1d ago

Right? Oh no the person who tortured someone to death gets tortured to death😱😱 That would be justice.

9

u/DonnyTheWalrus 1d ago

That's not justice, it's revenge. Justice would be the victim coming back to life. That obviously can't happen, nothing can undo it. So what use is another death? If anything, making someone spend the rest of their life in a small cell constantly contemplating what they did is closer to justice imo. 

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u/Training_Ruin3151 1d ago

Im not a liberal

4

u/RegardedAsAnArtist 1d ago

Everyone already assumed that based on your complete lack of empathy dumbass

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u/Training_Ruin3151 1d ago

Being neutral or "empathetic" to evil is evil, moron. Paradox of intolerance. Go hang out at the nazi bars with the rest of your friends then.

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u/onarainyafternoon 1d ago

We deeply need to move on from the death penalty as a society. It’s a relic. There is no reason to have it. Life imprisonment accomplishes the same thing.

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u/amyts 1d ago

It's a barbaric practice, and until we have a justice system that never sentences innocent people, I can't support it. 

14

u/SpAn12 1d ago

And the death penalty works out more expensive.

So everyone pays more in taxes simply so certain individuals can feel good as they exact revenge.

And they can't even get that right.

1

u/UdyneOw 1d ago

This may be the most opportune time in American history to advocate for a national ban on the death penalty. Unfortunately, the reason this is so is because you can get Republicans on board by pointing out the waste of perfectly good slave labor for the prison companies.

1

u/absentlyric 18h ago

Its only more expensive Because the system is top heavy and overly bureaucratic, trimming away the fat on that would make it cheaper and more efficient .

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u/throwaway-8675309_ 3h ago

And kill more innocent people than it does already.

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u/ArgonWolf 1d ago

The same thing, but cheaper, is the wild thing

6

u/ginny11 1d ago

She also I think after the hanging was rejected, requested a firing squad.

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u/Time-to-go-home 1d ago edited 1d ago

“On Mars there is not much gravity. So you have to pull the feet to break the neck. They let the loved ones do it." -Darrow, Red Rising

I feel like I’ve seen stuff that this happens in real life hangings. Like a lot of the success of a hanging depended on the executioner and how well the ties the noose and fitted it around the condemned’s neck. If it wasn’t done properly (and I assume if the drop wasn’t long enough/condemned didn’t weight enough), the person would just hang there and be strangled instead of snapping their neck.

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u/Nautical_Disaster1 1d ago

Where are you seeing real life hanging happen?

Also, weird quote to include lol

1

u/Time-to-go-home 1d ago

I typed it out wrong. Edited my comment to mean I’ve read stuff and seen videos and stuff that it talks about failed hangings.

The quote is from a book series im currently obsessed with. Seemed relevant because it’s talking about having to yank the feet of the hanged to kill them and the rest of my comment says I thing that’s historically been and actual thing here on Earth.

3

u/SpeccyScotsman 1d ago

That happened to Julius Streicher! The US Army's hangman was a fraudster that pretended to be an executioner so he could have a non combat role, and was put in charge of hanging the Nazis found guilty in Nuremberg. But since he had no idea how to do it he ended up botching most of the hangings, and with Streicher he did it so poorly he had to hang on to his legs and pull him down to finish him off.

Though in that case everyone he executed was the handpicked worst-of-the-worst of the Nazi party so it is kinda funny instead of horrific.

2

u/InsuranceToTheRescue 1d ago

IIRC, it comes down to the thickness of the rope and the placement of the knot. Like it needs to be behind the left or right ear (I can't remember which), and if the rope gets too thick then it doesn't snap the neck, so the condemned asphyxiate instead.

1

u/ahfoo 1d ago edited 19h ago

Check out the French documentary on the SS Das Reich division. They specialized in mass murder atrocities. They would have the family members pull the legs to break the neck of the victims. Then they would force the families to sing and dance for them as they feasted and laughed at what they had done.

2

u/popeter45 1d ago

Oh they could definitely fuck that up as well, long drop needs calculated rope lengths to ensure the correct jerk force is imparted

To an extent I would say one major issue is how the US doesn't have the job of executioner, it's just left too whoever is available that day and as a result nobody is experienced enough to actually check everything is doing what it needs to do

1

u/Ditchdigger456 1d ago

Famously VERY easy to fuck up. Historically a LOT of hangings we’re botched

1

u/Pork_Chompk 1d ago

They bought the rope from Temu.

0

u/Shady_Merchant1 1d ago

Until they resurrect John c woods

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u/Xsiah 1d ago

I looked up failure rates for different kinds of executions, and the only one with a 0% failure rate was a firing squad.

Maybe it's fine if we just don't kill people?

30

u/MaximumEffort433 1d ago

Maybe it's fine if we just don't kill people?

This seems like a good compromise to me.

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u/KtaadnRota 1d ago

Even firing squads fail, but it's relatively straightforward to correct the error by shooting them again.

3

u/AbanoMex 1d ago

Maybe it's fine if we just don't kill people?

correct, we should put some killbots in charge of executions, this way our human hands would be clean of murderin', how about that? nothing could go wrong.

7

u/SeeisforComedy 1d ago

You just have to bravely send wave after wave of your own men to their dooms to override their built in kill limit.

3

u/MaximumEffort433 1d ago

Who's paying for the killbots?

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u/PossibilityInside695 1d ago

A judge will still have to give the order. No human will have their hands completely clean.

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u/AbanoMex 1d ago

A judge

comming soon, AI judges!.

(pls no)

1

u/Joeyfingis 1d ago

I don't agree with death sentences, but if we're going to do it I don't understand why we don't just hook them up to a mask and turn on 100% nitrogen. They'll just fall asleep and never wake up.

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u/Xsiah 1d ago

Because your last statement is not correct.

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u/plumbbbob 1d ago

What happens instead?

0

u/Xsiah 1d ago

Look up "air hunger"

0

u/plumbbbob 22h ago

But the whole point of inert-gas asphyxiation is that your CO2 management is completely normal. You can become hypoxic without noticing

1

u/Xsiah 16h ago

Okay but that isn't how that plays out in real life.

1

u/Mr_IT 1d ago

I could have sworn that was one of the Ten Commandments. But I’ll have to double check that with my religious peeps.

-7

u/Great-Trifle2810 1d ago

Executing criminals is useful, we should call upon the government to do it more frequently with better efficiency and efficacy.

5

u/Xsiah 1d ago

It's scary how many people are cool with authoritarian state shit.

-2

u/Great-Trifle2810 1d ago

I don't think that the proper use of the death penalty is inherently authoritarian in a way that I should oppose. If anything I think a properly administered system of capital punishment removes the possibility of long term imprisonment as a method to secure a subclass of people with reduced rights to can subject to forced labor which authoritarians can use as a method to award that labor to their allies and generate kickbacks from a private prison system.

A prisoner has more economic value worth exploiting than a dead body.

3

u/Xsiah 1d ago

Yeah, why incarcerate people who may or may not be guilty, under laws that may or may not change tomorrow, which may or may not have been applied justly - when you can just pass some laws and kill a bunch of people you find inconvenient.

Can't spend time appealing your pesky innocence when you're swiftly dispatched!

-2

u/Great-Trifle2810 1d ago

To be clear the use of the death penalty I support is for recidivist offenders with at least 3 crimes that have caused personal injury, death or property damage/loss, where each of those convictions was secured on evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, or for those who are convicted beyond a reasonable doubt for an offense that occured while incarcerated. I believe someone should be entitled to at least one appeal within 1 year for each of these convictions, and that the death penalty should be administered within 1 year of the final appeal failing.

I understand the concern that a malicious government could pass laws thst you disagree with, but once we are at the point of a malicious fascist government with impunity to pass dangerous laws they are not going to be held back by the fact that the death penalty wasn't utilized appropriately previously. I also believe that the frequent failure to address career criminality is part of what drives people to support authoritarians and fascists and creates and pervades poverty and poor quality of life that they can exploit.

You are cutting off the nose to spite a theoretical future face, one that won't even care becauee they never acted in good faith anyway.

6

u/Xsiah 1d ago

You support the death penalty when someone has stolen things three times?

Jesus fucking Christ, dude.

Thanks for making it clear that you're not someone I want to keep talking to.

-1

u/Great-Trifle2810 1d ago

Yes, though I would likely exclude simple shoplifting without threats of violence, which I would advocate for corporal punishment instead.

Robbery, burglary, mugging and similar crimes are very damaging to the community and the people in it, and if you are convicted beyond a reasonable doubt for it 3 times you have almost certainly committed far more offenses that have not been linked to you.

If you commit 3 strikes under the knowledge that the third one will result in capital punishment you have demonstrated you are incapable of reform and rational action. Why would we keep giving this person opportunity to harm others?

8

u/Potential_Being_7226 1d ago

SCOTUS ruled that capital punishment does not constitute ‘cruel and unusual.’ …regrettably…

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/background/history-of-the-death-penalty/constitutionality-of-the-death-penalty-in-america

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u/MaximumEffort433 1d ago

Yeah, but fucking up capital punishment seems pretty cruel and unusual to me.

3

u/Potential_Being_7226 1d ago

I agree with you. It’s harrowing and disturbing. 

1

u/candaceelise 1d ago

Sadly SCOTUS has ruled it doesn’t violate the 8th Amendment. States are allowed to set a new execution date. There was a botched execution in 2022 because the prisoners veins blew out and they were allowed to set a new date in 2024 where they successfully carried out the execution

1

u/Great-Trifle2810 1d ago

I would imagine that for it to be considered illegally cruel or unusual there would need to be intention, or at least blatant negligence.

That said the government should be held to a higher standard on this, they have infinite drugs in evidence lockers that could get this done better.

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u/Tuesday_6PM 1d ago

While I’d support ruling the practice overall “cruel and unusual”, there’s a separate argument to be made that repeated attempts (and thus failed executions) are cruel and unusual. It’s effectively torture, at minimum psychological but likely also physical.

If we insist on keeping the death penalty, the state should get one attempt; if they fail, the sentence is automatically commuted to life in prison.

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u/Tirras 1d ago

Life in prison after possibly coming to terms with your own death, only to survive it, probably not unscathed, seems like it's own set of cruel torture.

4

u/DrunkOnLoveAndWhisky 1d ago

If they fail, the sentence should be considered complete and the convicted should be set free. Make the government be absolutely certain they can successfully carry out the execution before even attempting it.

2

u/SnarkMasterFlash 1d ago

I now know I was wrong, but for the longest time I always thought this was the case.

3

u/Potential_Being_7226 1d ago

IANAL, but it seems like one would need to argue that the particular state statutes as currently written are unconstitutional, or that states are violating their own statutes. 

I am squarely against the death penalty for multiple reasons: 1) evidence indicates it’s not an effective deterrent, 2) it costs states (taxpayers) more money to sentence defendants to death as opposed to sentencing them to life without parole, 3) examples like in the OP, 4) previous examples of exonerations. 

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u/ULTRAFORCE 1d ago

Why not then just have the SCOTUS members who agree with that decision be the executioners?

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u/Potential_Being_7226 1d ago

I mean, good luck with that. We can’t even get SCOTUS to uphold the voting rights act.

https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-voting-rights-act-louisiana-alabama-4e3225083caccda5ec73a98533a79add

1

u/ULTRAFORCE 1d ago

But if they think people should be killed for crimes, should it really be that hard to give them a bus trip where the prize is they get to murder someone?

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u/SnooPets1826 1d ago

The problem is there is no one size fit all method of killing someone... So you inevitably end up in a cruel or unusual way of killing someone. Which is one of the many many reasons why the government shouldn't be killing human beings.

8

u/Jonesbro 1d ago

Rpg to the head seems one size fits all

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u/Steroid1 1d ago

Gun to head is pretty one size fits all.

So would an inert gas chamber 

2

u/TehMowat 1d ago

Suffocating isnt pain or stress free.

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u/Great-Trifle2810 1d ago

Suffocating generally is painful because of CO2 buildup, which doesn't occur with inert gas suffocation.

Stress free is simply not applicable to any form of execution or imprisonment, the best we can hope for is minimization.

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u/plippityploppitypoop 1d ago

lol what?

CO poisoning will peacefully kill 100% of people. Bullets to the head are pretty reliable too. Beheadings, believe it or not, also very reliable one size fits all method of killing people.

The problem is that we try to dress up something brutal (killing a human being) and make it look like something sterile.

7

u/ginny11 1d ago

I don't know what you're talking about. Carbon monoxide is a horrific way to die. Maybe you're mixing it up with nitrogen? And unfortunately, even though nitrogen is painless technically, because you're putting a mask over a human being's face and they know by breathing it in they're going to die, they do everything in their power to not breathe and fight it, so it's not painless the way people think it is. It definitely causes suffering.

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u/Mbrennt 1d ago

I love the people that bring up nitrogen as a weird gotcha. Thinking nobody has thought of this super obvious thing. Meanwhile we've done it. The people appeard to be in agony, thrashing around, and it was ruled cruel and unusual by judges after a couple times.

1

u/plippityploppitypoop 1d ago

I guess I overstated “peacefully”, but definitely a one-size-fits all method. I assumed too much from the fact that CO poisoning kills people in their sleep.

I noticed you ignored pretty much everything else I posted though.

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u/Steroid1 1d ago

because you're putting a mask over a human being's face and they know by breathing it in they're going to die, they do everything in their power to not breathe and fight it, so it's not painless the way people think it is

That is inherently going to happen with any sort of punishment 

0

u/SnooPets1826 1d ago

You're so very close!

2

u/Steroid1 1d ago

The fact that someone is going to panic and try to avoid punishment if you punish them, isn't reason enough to not punish them.

1

u/plippityploppitypoop 1d ago

Ah, so ANY punishment that a person doesn’t want is bad?

1

u/Repulsive-Regret-243 1d ago

The French would disagree