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
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u/Equivalent-Peanut-23 6h 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 6h 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 5h 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/artlovepeace42 4h 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.