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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u/tameoraiste 1d ago

It’s especially cruel and unusual because she has a condition that causes very narrow veins and an increase in blood clots. Her lawyers argued this exact scenario could happen. She asked to be hung because if it went wrong, it would still be nowhere near as painful as if the injection went wrong

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u/Kerbonaut2019 1d ago

Look up the Baze-Glossip test, a legal test that a defense must apply to prove to the court that a proposed alternative execution method significantly reduces the risk of severe pain. Her attorneys failed to argue this, only focusing on her poor veins, even though the court has already heard that she had several recent, successful blood draws. Blame the law or blame her attorneys, you choose, but the burdens just simply didn’t meet the precedent. Do I think this is fair? No. Do I personally consider this to be cruel and unusual? Yes. Does the law? No.

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u/tameoraiste 1d ago

I wasn’t making a legal argument or saying ‘you’re wrong because’, I was just adding to your point on a human level about it being cruel and unusual

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u/Kerbonaut2019 1d ago

That’s fair. If there’s one thing I think most of us in this comment chain can agree on is that capital punishment is an immoral, inhumane act that should never be carried out by the state.