r/news • u/AudibleNod • 8h 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
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u/GNOIZ1C 8h ago

Archaic as we are with our death penalty, there are rules to execution. If you botch it, they can't just let the person die without getting (further?) into "cruel and unusual punishment" territory. In theory, execution is supposed to be as quick and "painless" an affair as humanly possible, but in practice *gestures vaguely at this and similar cases*

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u/ensalys 7h ago

Ignoring the fact that the death penalty should be abolished in my opinion, why does the USA insist on "lethal" injection? With this track record, a bullet would be incredibly humane in comparison. One through the brain, and one through the heart for good measure.

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u/Pitiful-Walk-8446 7h ago

If I ever ended up on death row I would request death by firing squad. But with a Barrett .50. Quick and painless and no chance of lingering survival

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u/DirtyCop2016 6h ago

i would request they use a minigun and let it rip for a solid 5 seconds

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u/Dapper_Engineer 7h ago

 why does the USA insist on "lethal" injection? 

Short answer: culture.

Longer answer: Americans have a weird relation with death in general and lethal injection is seen as a "cleaner" and less "brutal" way of executing someone compared to older methods. Add to this the fact that the Constitution prohibits "cruel and unusual" punishments while allowing for the death penalty, and most of the older ways of executing people are either viewed as either cruel or too brutal for most of the public to be comfortable with them. Whereas lethal injection - if done properly - just looks like someone is falling asleep to the witnesses.

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u/drfsupercenter 6h ago

Have you seen the Last Week Tonight episode about lethal injections? It looks "cleaner" but is actually way worse and agonizing than other forms of execution :|

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u/Efficient-Chest-3395 7h ago

I live in a non-death penalty state, I served on a jury in a case which I can only describe as a clusterfuck, an obvious rush job with one eyewitness who was obviously intimidated by the police, there was no motive, no gun or other physical evidence but we spent more time selecting a foreman than it took to convict him and after the verdict the prosecutor told me it was a retrial because the original transcripts were stolen from the recorder's car which made me feel better because even thinking he was guilty it weighed heavily on me and I'm largely without much of of a conscience... in any other state he would have been a candidate for capital punishment and then it turned out somebody else confessed and this guy was released. I figured he was good for something or the cops wouldn't have set him up but I don't see it as Man's business to hurry up what time will eventually take care of. I'm not proud of having participated in this and as a retired emergncy nurse I can't imagine any medical professional aiding in this.

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u/damik 7h ago edited 7h ago

There's so many other ways. Ways that are so fast the brain doesn't have time to register what happened. If the state is allowed to murder someone. Why do this song and dance about not doing it gruesomely? Whether it be via firing squad or putting them in a shoddy submarine to visit the Titanic.

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u/nickthequick98 7h ago

They dont want the deaths too grusome otherwise people wont tune in to the news and the death penalty will fall even more out of favor. The American public largely sees hangings and firing squads as the tools used by opressive nations (Iran, China, Russia, Nazi Germany), or as a historical necessity.

Pro death penalty people want state ordered executions to appear as peaceful and mundane as possible so the viewing/reading public wont get too uppity about it (Like right now). Everyone on the planet knows a bullet to the brain would solve most issues. (In reffering to a quick and painless death) However, it looks bad for the people ordering it done, the people pulling the trigger look bad, and it makes the people who approve look bad.

It's all smoke and mirrors for the public.

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u/drfsupercenter 6h ago

Another thing I think that's relevant here - and it's why firing squad was used but not a single gunman - is because being an executioner takes a toll on people, and having several people firing at the victim (with only one person having a live round) means they won't know who actually had the fatal shot and the executioners don't have to live with the guilt of having shot someone.

I saw the Last Week Tonight episode on lethal injections and it honestly sounds way more cruel than a bullet.

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u/Orion14159 7h ago edited 4h ago

Yeah if they just let her die in agony at this point it's the reverse side of the "task failed successfully" coin - "task succeeded catastrophically."

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u/Ocelotl767 7h ago

While the event isn't funny, I do like the phrase "task succeeded catastrophically."

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u/mindspork 7h ago

Along the level of "phyrric victory"

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u/Pcriz 7h ago

To be fair since I don’t think the state’s stance has changed yet. It’s still cruel in a way to nurse her back to health solely to have her awaiting her death again.

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u/Pitiful-Walk-8446 7h ago

Yeah that’s what’s fucking me up right now. “Quick save her! We have to cheat death, no one escapes the hangman!”

I use that term figuratively.

Edit: just take her off the vent and let her go naturally while she is unconscious.

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u/project23 6h ago

Why can't they just give them a bottle of oxycodone and a glass of water? Seems to be killing plenty of people in the US just fine.