The lone woman on Tennessee’s death row was still alive after she was administered two lethal injections, her lawyer said in a motion seeking to halt her execution Wednesday night, a stunning development after the Supreme Court had stepped in to allow the state to put her to death.
At 8:26 p.m. local time, witnesses said “executioners had injected both syringes of lethal injection chemicals” and Christa Pike was “still alive and snoring,” her lawyers said in a federal court filing.
They said Pike “has not lost consciousness and still has a heartbeat” and that curtains to the death chamber “have gone down twice.”
Execution by firing squad is still legal in Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah. Typically other forms of execution must be unavailable for some reason for them to accept firing squad, but it is still an option.
And we’ve all clutched our pearls about it many times. But lethal injection is only more humane for the witnesses. These botched injections are common and the process is not painless by a long shot. The prisoner is simply immobilized by a first injection before a second, excruciating one kills them. I’d seriously consider a bullet to the head if it were me.
I agree 100%. I’m completely opposed to capital punishment.