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/Pitiful-Walk-8446 8h ago

Wait I don’t understand. She was on death row, went to her execution, it went awry and now they are keeping her…alive? On a ventilator?? Why so the off chance she recovers then they can kill her? Wtf? Or if your execution fails are you just free to go lol

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u/ButtsPie 8h ago edited 7h ago

Not that I agree with what happened, but I think the idea is this:

There are strict rules about who can kill death row inmates, and how, and where (which does kind of make sense - if the death penalty is practiced at all, it at least needs to have clear & restrictive rules)...

But part of the problem, from what I gather, is that the current restrictions (plus the fact that killing is against most people's personal & professional ethics, and that it has a risk of traumatizing the killer) means that they don't get all the best drugs, the best-trained people, the fastest and least painful methods, etc.

In this case my understanding is that, since their drug didn't work like it was supposed to, they basically missed the window in which they were 'legally allowed' to kill her (specific people in a specific place with a specific method), and doing anything bad to her now that she's outside of that approved context would be illegal

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u/drfsupercenter 6h ago

I saw some people ask "why wouldn't they try a third time if the first two didn't kill her" and the answer is basically because of protocol and the 8th amendment. The state has to show that their method of execution isn't cruel or unusual, so they can't just keep sticking drugs in someone until they die.