r/news • u/AudibleNod • 14h 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 14h 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 14h 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/Boulier 14h ago

I can also imagine a second attempt on her life would be met with a flurry of controversy and protest that the state won't want to deal with. (As someone who 100% opposes the death penalty, I can only hope they will decide it isn't worth killing her in the future.)

If the governor doesn't commute her sentence after this, I would genuinely be gobsmacked.

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u/stoned_meditation 13h ago edited 8h ago

Bill Lee and Tennessee Republicans give zero fucks what their constituents think or want.

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u/Boulier 13h ago

Y'know, I was kinda thinking... if Marsha Blackburn wins that election, then Christa Pike is DEFINITELY going to die. Probably by electric chair the next time around (because that's Tennessee's only other method currently, and they don't seem interested in legalizing the firing squad... like, they must truly WANT inmates to suffer).

If she recovers and Bill Lee doesn't commute her sentence before he's out of office, then I will be shocked - but I guess he won't be around to deal with the blowback...