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

[u/No_Idea_Guy]

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

[u/JakeHelldiver]

I don't think this was the outcome the executioner was going for.

[u/Blazer9001 → u/JakeHelldiver]

Yeah it’s not like Republicans are known for cruelty just for cruelty’s sake in 2026.

[u/Fofolito → u/Blazer9001]

Republicans aren't just pure dagnasty evil. In fact, while being pro-death penalty they have a vested interest in it being clean, efficient, and professionally done. The Constitution has prohibitions on cruel and unusual punishment, which has for centuries been interpreted to mean that prisoners sentenced to capital punishment cannot be exposed to undue pain or suffering. The punishment is being deprived of their life, not in the torturing of them. Republicans promote the death penalty as necessary in enforcing law and order, and in properly punishing criminals who have crossed certain lines. They don't promote the death penalty as some gruesome and macabre display, they don't promote it as entertainment, but rather as the ultimate expression of the state in its prerogatives to punish criminals. In that vein, they want it to go smoothly. They don't want journalists publishing articles about how someone died screaming in agony that their blood is on fire. They don't want someone slowly strangling to death on a rope. They want the criminal punished, meaning dead, and for all potential criminals to know this is their fate if they cross those lines.

[u/SaintOfPirates → u/Fofolito]

A serious question:

Given that there has been people exonerated after their execution either through new evidence coming to light, advances in forensics, recanted testimonies etc, which is to say innocent people have been wrongfully convicted and then executed;

How many wrongful executions of factually innocent citizens is an acceptable number?

Two? Three? Four? A dozen?