A Botched Execution Without Precedent
In Tennessee, Christa Pike became the first person to receive a lethal dose of pentobarbital and survive. The execution team gave her two doses, but she stayed alive, snoring, complaining of pain, and kicking her feet so much that the sheets came off. Governor Bill Lee told the team to stop, and Pike was hospitalized. Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, called it the worst botched execution in the modern era, with no precedent.[S1]
Pike was sentenced to death for a gruesome crime: she lured a woman to a wooded area, tortured her, and beat her to death with a chunk of asphalt, carving a pentagram into her body. Pike was barely 18 at the time and had herself been a victim of violence and abuse. As her execution date approached, she argued that lethal injection would be cruel, unaware of what would actually happen.[S1]
Historical Precedents and Legal Implications
The previous case of an execution attempt being survived occurred in 1946, when Willie Francis lived through a faulty electric chair in Louisiana. He filed suit to block a second try, but the Supreme Court permitted it, with Justice Stanley Reed reasoning that an unforeseen accident did not make a later execution cruel. Francis was put to death shortly afterward. Since then, only nine others besides Pike have survived execution attempts. Four were ultimately killed on a second attempt, while the rest avoided that outcome or died on death row.[S1]
Legal experts argue that Tennessee should not be allowed to try to execute Pike again, as it would constitute double jeopardy and be cruel. Justice Harold Burton, dissenting in the Francis case, stated that no one should be subject to a second execution, and that the state has a duty to ensure no failure occurs. The case also underscores the broader failure to find a safe, reliable, and humane execution method, with lethal injection having the worst track record, botched in more than 8% of cases.[S1]
