Christa Pikes is awake and ‘talking’

[wouldntyouwanthelp]

She’s out of the coma and talking to her lawyers. Aibu to think the state of Tennessee can’t possibly try to do the lethal injection again ? Surely not? People on Reddit are suggesting she might need an amputation of one of her arms because of how caustic pentobarbital is.

Christa Pike 'conscious and speaking at hospital' after failed execution in US
https://news.sky.com/share/13595950

The real issue is that a government that tried to carry out a death sentence lacks the competency to complete the task. This isn’t the first execution with complications, even if it is the first with these particular circumstances.

There is nothing to indicate that Tennessee or any other U.S. state now has the capability to swiftly execute a human within the current guidelines for what constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. Whether or not we agree with those guidelines or the death penalty at all doesn’t change the fact that continuing to try to execute people on these circumstances is going to cause problems.

They have untrained people using a single degraded drug when previously an in-date cocktail of medications was used.

I think this incident should effectively halt executions. They can’t get the job done. The culture has already decided that only lethal injection is acceptable. Enough of the population has decided that lethal injection is unacceptable to the point that the drug companies won’t cooperate. I don’t see how the death penalty alters isn’t at an effective standstill even if it remains law.

What she did was horrific, but her death will not take away the pain that her victim's mother feels.

The death penalty is barbaric and has no place in a civilised society. It is totally fucked up that the state tried to kill this woman twice and then took her to hospital for her life to be saved. You just couldn't make it up.

Yep. She had a significantly traumatic childhood to the extent that she should not have been sentenced to death. And as others have said, her accomplice, only a year younger, was not sentenced to death.

Tragic all round but surely a botched execution and the lifelong repercussions of that, both physical and mental, are punishment enough.

All the US states have different laws, I think only 27 still have the death penalty.

And remember that she suffered horrendous and continuing abuse throughout her childhood. It doesn't excuse her crime, but it strongly suggests that the death penalty was never remotely appropriate.

I don't think the drug is going to matter if her veins are narrow and she has a blood clotting disorder.

Her lawyers warned her blood will clot causing the veins to burst

For me, one of the most striking ironies of the whole thing was after her execution failed twice there were several ambulances blue lighted in to the prison grounds to see if they could take her to hospital and save her life….is it me ( probably) or is that majorly fucked up ?

Might you not consider that she had been more than adequately punished by spending 30 years on death row, being taken to the death chamber terrified by the prospect of imminent death, followed by a horrendous assault on her which will certainly have left her maimed for life? How could anyone contemplate putting her through all that all over again?

The entire thing is a mess. I don't really believe in the death penalty I understand that that young woman's mother wants her to die I might feel the same if it was my child who was tortured and treated so cruelly. I don't know if they should try to do the execution again at this point other than just have her stay in jail life in prison.

So how would this help Colleen? It won't even help her mother given that it won't bring Colleen back to life. Time and again relatives of victims in this situation report feeling that actually the death penalty has achieved nothing and certainly hasn't made them feel any better.

When there’s no guarantee it will even work this time? Wouldn’t it be more humane to put a pillow over her face and suffocate her?

I meant consideration, sorry. Too late to edit.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/06/christa-pike-execution-awake

The following is sarcasm. Perhaps they should just wheel her back to prison in her hospital bed and shoot her. End.

Or perhaps do the decent thing and let her live out the rest of her life without fear of further abuse that she most certainly suffered during her formative years.

Forgiveness is freeing.

Nothing is going to stop her Mum from suffering.

I don't think her mom/stepdad agree. They said Colleen's soul will not rest until her killer has died.

So why not bring her back now, in the hospital bed, to the prison and execute her by firing squad?

Well there’s an embargo on any further executions within Tennessee for the rest of this year at least, so even if they do decide to try execute her again, it certainly won’t be this year.

@placemats: I'm just saying we shouldn't make assumptions about what her mom feels. She was attending and voiced her displeasure after.

Bullshit

That’s why we have objective laws and why grieving parents do not decide on punishments. It’s just unfortunate that America is barbaric in having the death penalty

Why don’t they use morphine or something more effective

Morphine doesn't kill you instantly and anyway Pike has a blood disorder.

It reminded me of "half hung mcNaghten". That's going back even further than Rasputin. Couldn't compete with the number of attempts on Rasputin's life, mind you. Castro survived a lot too. He outlived CIA who tried to take him out in the 60s, by decades.

Perhaps it's a sign from beyond the grave from Colleen of forgiveness?

Caveat Obviously neither can be proven.

They may not agree. But killing Christa Pike is not going to bring Colleen back and they may not find that it gives them the peace that they currently believe that it will.

Either way, while I have immense sympathy for Colleen's family, I don't believe that their feelings about the matter justify the use of the death penalty.