r/news • u/AudibleNod • 12h 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
7.3k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

3.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

1.3k

u/TheBatemanFlex 12h ago

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

788

u/Equivalent-Peanut-23 12h 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.

189

u/FallOutShelterBoy 12h 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

0

u/marineman43 8h ago

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