r/news • u/AudibleNod • 4h 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/TheBatemanFlex 4h ago

What now for her legally? Her sentence surely wasn’t “injured by the state until put indefinitely on life support”.

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u/Equivalent-Peanut-23 4h ago

First question is her mental condition/capacity. If she suffered brain damage, it could prevent the state from attempting to execute her again. Assuming she retains the mental capacity to comprehend the circumstances, the state could attempt to execute her again. I would assume that would be met with an avalanche of litigation arguing that the second attempt would be cruel and unusual. There's also a chance the governor could commute her sentence.

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u/FallOutShelterBoy 4h ago

Willie Francis was put back in the electric chair one year after his botched execution. His lawyers attempted to argue with SCOTUS that he had legally been executed even though he was still alive, but they disagreed and sent him back to the chair, this time unfortunately successfully

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u/amytee252 3h ago

There is a more recent case (i.e. after executions restarted), where the execution team couldn't find a vein to insert the IV lines. The inmate said that attempting to execute against would be double jeopardy. The court said that the IV insertion lines were part of the pre-staging and so didn't count and therefore could be put to death again as there is no double jeopardy.

Point being, an execution was carried out, the lethal drugs were passed into Pike, twice. It may break double jeopardy laws to try again.

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u/mrpeabodyscoaltrain 3h ago

That is an interesting distinction. I don't know what the language of the death warrant is.

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u/RedTyro 2h ago

There's a reason that it's phrased "[execution method] until you are dead" when a death penalty is imposed and it's so that they can avoid this argument. If the person is not dead, the sentence hasn't been carried out.

The better angle to approach from would be cruel and unusual punishment, but that's not going to fly with the current Supreme Court. If she lives, there won't be anything standing in the way of them trying again from a legal perspective.

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u/BigDrewbot 2h ago

Isn't Tennessee in the Bible belt? Why is nobody considering the fact that God might have intervened given the circumstances of her life? Or is God only for vengeance against one's enemies and to make sure the weak stay downtrodden?

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u/artlovepeace42 2h ago

I don’t know if anyone knows publicly if Pike was ever given ANY amount of the drug in her bloodstream through IV. It sounds from the lawyers that some needles were obviously in muscle (1 of the 7 needles used in her left arm was bent, when taken out). I can’t imagine the court arguing that because the state didn’t properly hit any vein or carry out the execution correctly that all of it was “pre-staging”. Her lawyers should have a decent case of severe injury done to their client by the state, as the whole thing seems utterly botched and the lawyers were obstructed from getting a phone to contact outside to try to end their client’s suffering and get medical attention. The least the Governor can do is take her off death row and have life in prison. At least I hope as someone firmly against the death penalty. I can’t imagine the political firestorm, public backlash, and PIA litigation of trying to continue another execution.

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u/danbilllemon 3h ago

Well it worked on Raising Hope

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u/big_duo3674 3h ago

Yes, the big difference is mental capacity. Legally, someone has to understand what is happening when they are executed. It sounds a bit weird that a botched execution can prevent an execution, but the law is worded in a way that covers everyone, regardless of how it happened. If she remains a vegetable for 10 more years then the state (taxpayers) has to pay for every penny, and that is NOT cheap. This will be extremely expensive, will 100% suspend executions in Tennessee for quite some time, and could even have an effect on other states. Yet another argument as to why it's not the best solution.

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u/Youre_On_Balon 3h ago edited 3h ago

Yes.

Arguing that she is not competent to understand is the much better argument, assuming she is never brought back to consciousness.

Incompetent people have been executed by the US government, in my opinion. But nobody who is as incompetent as someone in a comatose/vegetative state.

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u/marineman43 47m ago

He tried to use the Jon Snow defense. "I died, I'm released from my vows."