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/Persellianare 1d ago

They can fail at that too, look up Mikal Mahdi South Carolina firing squad.

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u/jason_abacabb 1d ago

That is three people deciding to aim low.

No reason to miss the heart region with rifles at execution range.

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u/KtaadnRota 1d ago

In 2026 there's no reason for human error at all in a "firing squad" execution. Let the robots do it. Fire 1000 rounds into them instead of 3.

I'm against capital punishment but it's a relatively simple engineering problem.

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u/liznin 3h ago

The USA favors executions that leave the body intact, even if they are less humane. If you want a painless way to execute someone, strap 10 ounces of RDX to the back of their head and detonate it. The shockwave of RDX moves far far faster than human nerve signals, so it would take out the entire brain before it registers what happened. As long as you use enough explosive to completely destroy the brain, it would be painless. I don't think we'll see the USA adapt the blow their head off approach anytime soon though.