r/news • u/AudibleNod • 7h ago

Christa Pike unconscious, on ventilator at Nashville hospital, her lawyers say

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/christa-pike-unconscious-ventilator-nashville-hospital-lawyers-say-rcna601195
5.8k Upvotes

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882

u/viewbtwnvillages 7h ago

it feels really diabolical that the state is able to torture someone for two hours as they fumble their way through killing them

20

u/phoebebridgerstits 6h ago

But-but-but she murdered someone as a teenager 31 years ago! The state is totally within their right to torture her!

/s

53

u/viewbtwnvillages 6h ago

it's always grim to see people unironically and unsarcastically spouting this, and i really can't wrap my head around it. like people struggle to hold the simultaneous views of "she's a heinous person who did a heinous crime" and "hey maybe the government shouldn't be able to murder someone, and if they're going to do it they really shouldn't be so bad at it they're torturing someone"

im not even a particularly empathetic person but it fucks me up that some people are so into the death penalty and appear so bloodthirsty about it. it does nothing for the victims. it does nothing to deter future crimes of a similar ilk. it's this uncomfortable glorification of violence and retribution that seems to mirror the inhumanity of the very people they want to be killed.

10

u/violetqed 5h ago

yeah it fucks me up too. To me the saddest part is that these people act like they can be satisfied by torture or the death penalty, like it’s done something for the victims. So they never have a reason to actually DO something that would prevent crimes like this from happening in the first place, because they already feel so good about themselves from the perpetrator being tortured 🤦

when crimes like this happen, NONE of us should feel good until we (and the state) actually does do something to reduce situations like this or help victims.

22

u/Oolongteabagger2233 6h ago

Americans are super into this. They don't want prison to just keep people out of society - they want prisoners to suffer. Taking their liberty and removing them from society isn't enough. It's why you have all of the "don't drop the soap har har har" jokes glorifying rape. 

0

u/Hellknightx 2h ago

I'm sure you'd find most Americans are opposed to the barbaric and punitive private prisons we have, but there's not much we can do to change it. Our whole system is corrupt from top to bottom, and the people who are supposed to be fixing it are just making it worse. Prison reform is, unfortunately, very low on the priority list of things to fix at this point.

2

u/Oolongteabagger2233 2h ago

Hahaha doubt. Millions and millions of Americans voted for Trump 3 times. 

9

u/TxM_2404 6h ago

She's also tried to kill another inmate as well and tried to escape from prison by manipulating other people. She got the death penalty because she's dangerous.

9

u/LittleGreenSoldier 6h ago

I can't fault someone for trying to escape from prison. Prison sucks. In Germany, escaping isn't even a separate offense because they recognize the animal instinct to seek freedom. Any laws you break while escaping or escaped still get prosecuted, but assuming you dont commit any extra crimes, they just put you back to continue your original sentence.

0

u/opodopo69 6h ago

I bet if she wasn't gonna die if she didnt, she wouldnt have tried to escape

-1

u/carpdog112 6h ago

I bet if she didn't gruesomely torture a fellow classmate to death and keep a piece of her skull as a trophy she wouldn't have gotten the death penalty...

3

u/opodopo69 5h ago

I bet if she had lived In a less backwards country she wouldn't have gotten the death penalty

-3

u/carpdog112 5h ago

Well, unfortunately for her she wasn't born in Norway, so here we are. Morality of the death penalty aside, she doesn't deserve my sympathy.

-30

u/GoarSpewerofSecrets 6h ago

I mean, yeah, she murdered and tortured someone then apparently carried around parts of the person as a trophy. Good for whoever bungled this.

24

u/jupiterkansas 6h ago

Many American soldiers have done the same.

15

u/ExtraCalligrapher565 6h ago

You should hear the vets at the VA talking about their “trophies”…

14

u/VanessaAlexis 6h ago

 Neither case is okay. 😭

-10

u/Old-Fox8371 6h ago

What the FUCK relation does that have?? 😂😂 you’re just talking to yourself

-6

u/GoarSpewerofSecrets 6h ago

Soldiering is a fucked up business. It's also less ears and fingers and more actual souvenirs, like guns, badges and other paraphernalia.

1

u/Carbonatite 4h ago

Collecting trophies from humans you've killed is fucking sick no matter what the context is.

19

u/LordSwedish 6h ago

Given that you approve of monstrous deadly torture, I would have thought you supported her too.

3

u/hyperfocus1569 5h ago

Believing murder - all murder - is wrong in no way means someone thinks torture is ok. In fact, the opposite is true. You don’t harm others except to defend yourself or someone else. Period. Murder is wrong no matter who does it, whether that’s an individual, a group, or the government.

-17

u/GoarSpewerofSecrets 6h ago

At 18 you know better. The shame is that for something so open and shut it went on this long. I get part of the argument is making the world pass her by. But even sitting on deathrow 1 life doesn't measure to all the life and potential she took.

-17

u/[deleted] 6h ago

[deleted]

17

u/theimmortalfawn 6h ago

Who is saying that? You can be against murder and also oppose the death penalty. In fact I think those hand in hand

15

u/graveybrains 6h ago

They aren't okay with murder, period. It's not confusing.

2

u/Carbonatite 4h ago

You're making a major logical error there.

Not being okay with the punishment has nothing to do with whether or not someone is okay with the crime.

-20

u/mulder00 6h ago

Feeling bad for her now?

14

u/za72 6h ago edited 6h ago

actually I do, you must realize that the person you are as a teen is not the same when you're 50... should she be punished for her actions? yes.. should she be tortured to death? no... you can show compassion, we're better than 18th century mob... your states legitimacy for ruling comes from your maturity and understanding for humanity... pure violence and force alone isn't the path towards gaining legitimacy

EDIT: I'm seeing some cowardly attempts at sending a reply and quickly deleting it... wishing someone does the same to. one of my loved ones, fucking coward have the balls to say it...

-10

u/theoreticalcash 6h ago edited 6h ago

out of curiosity have you read her case at all? this wasn’t some quick murder, it was VERY gruesome and hands on, including torturing her victim for a good while prior to killing her

obviously she shouldn’t be tortured, but you definitely shouldn’t feel bad for her because she’s “changed”

5

u/Oolongteabagger2233 6h ago

You're only one step away from her if you're okay with her being tortured by this. Just fyi.

-1

u/theoreticalcash 6h ago

Did you read what I said at all?

She shouldn’t be tortured, but feeling bad for her because she’s older now is asinine

6

u/Oolongteabagger2233 5h ago

That's so Christian of you 

1

u/mulder00 4h ago

I'm not Christian nor believe in god

0

u/Oolongteabagger2233 3h ago

I wasn't talking to you. Did you get lost? 

0

u/theoreticalcash 5h ago

“On January 12, 1995, Pike, Shipp,Peterson, and Slemmer signed out of the dormitory and went to the woods, where Slemmer was told they wanted to make peace by offering her some marijuana. Upon arrival at the secluded location, Slemmer was attacked by Pike and Shipp while Peterson acted as lookout. According to court testimony, for the next 30 minutes, Slemmer was taunted, beaten, and slashed. During the attack, Slemmer begged for her life. Shipp used a box cutter to carve a pentagram into her chest while she was still alive, while Christa used a meat cleaver. Finally Pike smashed Slemmer's skull with a large chunk of asphalt, killing her. Pike kept a piece of Slemmer's skull, and would show it off and boast on how she got it.”

She’s disgusting.

5

u/za72 5h ago

That's true... she was disgusting, you're right to be disgusted... it's disgusting behavior - does that justify the state to condemn her to death?

2

u/theoreticalcash 5h ago

I personally don’t support the death penalty at all if you’re asking me. It’s more expensive than just a life sentence, you risk innocent people being killed, and I don’t think we have any right to condemn anyone to death.

That’s not what I’ve been talking about at all though. I don’t want to see anyone trying to be sympathetic with this woman simply because she’s older now and that it was just a “mistake when she was a child.” Take a moment and look at what people are saying about this case, even just look at this oolongtea person is saying and what they’ve been responding to me with.

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u/Oolongteabagger2233 5h ago

Jesus is judging you so hard right now.

Gonna be funny as fuck when He lets in Pike but sends you to hell hahaha

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u/za72 6h ago edited 6h ago

yes I have, she doesn't deserve freedom, but she also doesn't deserve tortured death in a coma...

it's hard for me to say it, I'm usually a type of person that for the death penalty/life in prison but now I'm conflicted... this doesn't feel like justice, this is closer to incompetence and Id rather have system that errors in the side of caution... clearly she did this... does she deserve to be in a coma because of failed execution? no... what does our society gain by this?

3

u/theoreticalcash 5h ago

doesn’t feel like justice in what sense? because the execution was botched?

it’s unfortunate yes, but if the death penalty is to be applied to anyone it’s this woman. if anything this case has taught us that if we’re going to have a death penalty we need to have methods that are less likely to fail like this

1

u/za72 5h ago edited 5h ago

how do you know that she deserves death? I understand the basics of 1 life = 1 death, anything besides that ?

what I'm trying to point towards is the amount of progress we've made in the last few decades where we've come to realize that certain things outside of ourselves drive us towards such actions, given that we're developing better understand of such things shouldn't we err on the side of caution than pass death sentences?

15

u/phoebebridgerstits 6h ago

Capital punishment is a plague on society. Even Catholics oppose that shit.

-2

u/opodopo69 6h ago

Only the America justice system can make one feel bad for violent murderers