Pike survived a lethal injection execution on Wednesday. She was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer.

Christa Pike, the woman who survived an execution attempt in Tennessee earlier this week, is on a ventilator as she receives care in the hospital, her lawyers said in a new statement Friday.

“Christa remains critically ill and is receiving medical care for the devastating effects of Wednesday night’s events,” the lawyers’ statement said. “She is critically ill, unconscious, intubated and receiving breathing assistance through a ventilator.”

The statement said she is being treated for “the serious effects of the pentobarbital administered during the execution attempt, including significant injuries to both arms.”

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 10 points 1 day ago (5 children)

They tried the nitrogen hypoxia

Smith was strapped to a gurney wearing a full-face mask. His last words were said to be, "Tonight, Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards. Thank you for supporting me. Love all of you."[2] The nitrogen gas was administered beginning at 7:57 p.m.[27] Some witnesses commented that Smith looked as if he was conscious for several minutes[28][27] and "thrashed violently on the gurney",[2] breathing heavily for several minutes before his breathing was no longer visible.[28] Smith appeared to lose consciousness at 8:02 p.m.[27] It appeared death occurred when movement of Smith ceased at 8:08 p.m.[27] The curtain to the witness room closed at 8:15 p.m.[29] He was pronounced dead at 8:25 p.m.[30]

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [–] 10 points 1 day ago (4 children)

    I saw that. Somebody seriously fucked something up there. My guess is whatever mask setup they use wasn't giving him 100% nitrogen, or possibly he was holding his breath and fighting it.

    I've also considered the possibility that he just didn't want to validate nitrogen as a form of execution, so he made a conscious decision to make it look as painful as possible. If so I say fucking good for him. One of the reasons I would never help write night an execution protocol, even though I could do it, is I don't want to further legitimize capital punishment in the US. And if there is an easy instant painless bloodless way to execute someone, that is one of the arguments against capital punishment that goes away.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 1 day ago* (3 children)

    I would never

    If you ever think you are going to question the decision to not write those protocols, remember pro-execution people will probably send you death threats, over trying to be humane.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

    If they are going to argue that I or those like me should be compelled to participate in executions we have no interest in, then I would point out that all of their arguments for personal freedoms and liberties are not being upheld.

    I think a great many of the people you describe are just overall hypocritical and don't even realize it. IE, on one hand they demand the ten commandments be put up in schools, then on the other hand they push the death penalty which is very unlike the religion they claim to follow.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 1 day ago (1 child)

    What?? No!

    I'm saying that people that want the death penalty are the, "cruelty is the point" people and they would be mad if someone seriously made the process more compassionate

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 2 points 1 day ago

    I gotcha.

    The vast majority of those people seem to walk a tightrope between 'bad people should suffer as an example' and 'if you killed someone you don't deserve a painless death you deserve to suffer' and 'we support humane execution'. You can usually tell because they seem more interested in humane execution to shut down complaints than to be humane.

  • source
  • parent