Yet another Hacker News

Tennessee inmate still alive after being administered two lethal injections

17 points techolic 1 hour ago 18 comments

xvxvx 1 hour ago | parent

“executioners had injected both syringes of lethal injection chemicals” and Christa Pike was “still alive and snoring”

2026 is really something else. 3 months left.

karlgkk 1 hour ago | parent

> An ambulance was seen arriving at the prison where Pike was to be executed and then leaving. Medical aid was being administered, according to online federal court records.

So they tried to kill her and then provided medical aid? What the fuck are we doing as a country. Goddamn.

ryandrake 1 hour ago | parent

They can’t even figure out if they want the inmate to be dead or alive. Incompetence has no limit.

theflyingelvis 54 minutes ago | parent

Well, they can’t kill someone who is dead so they have to save her. Duh.

dotcoma 8 minutes ago | parent

And then try to kill her again next month ?

sippingabonedry 1 hour ago | parent

The Saudis really are the 10x engineers of administering capital punishment.

N_Lens 1 hour ago | parent

With AI, now everyone can be a 10x engineer (of administering capital punishment)!

tombert 1 hour ago | parent

Oh yeah, I read about this.

I'm pretty against capital punishment in general, so take that for what it is, but executing someone for something they did when they were eighteen really bothers me.

I've never been a violent person but I do know that I was even more of an idiot then than I am now.

sippingabonedry 59 minutes ago | parent

> for something they did when they were eighteen really bothers me

She lured a classmate into the woods, slit her throat with a box cutter after torturing her for half an hour, bashed her skull open with a rock for good measure, then brought a piece of her skull to school the next day.

> I was even more of an idiot then than I am now

Do you think the above should be chalked up as normal childhood indiscretion?

tombert 50 minutes ago | parent

> Do you think the above should be chalked up as normal childhood indiscretion?

I didn't say there shouldn't be consequences. I just think that executing someone who committed a crime when they were effectively a child is kind of upsetting. I do not see how you extrapolated that I think it's "normal childhood indiscretion" out of what I said.

sippingabonedry 45 minutes ago | parent

I interpreted it as an implication that it should be viewed as a lesser crime due to the perpetrator's age. At 18 you can:

• Vote

• Fight in the military

• Act in pornography

• Rent a car in MI, NY, QC

• Many other adult things

The crime perpetrated was premeditated and particularly demonic. It's a far cry from shoplifting a Snickers bar.

> is kind of upsetting

Bringing a chunk of the victim's skull to school to show your friends how good you are at murdering was probably pretty upsetting to a few people, like the victim's family and friends.

jrflowers 32 minutes ago | parent

Execution is a weird thing for a civilized society to do and the bizarre people that fetishize it say weird shit like “It makes sense to murder somebody if they made other people upset” to avoid talking about how it doesn’t solve any problems that aren’t already solved by life imprisonment. The justification for execution is always “I want the state to kill people because I enjoy that sort of thing”

tombert 32 minutes ago | parent

The voting age being 18 was changed in the 70s, primarily so they could more easily justify sending 18 year olds to fight in Vietnam. Prior to 1971 it was kind of agreed that 18 year olds were still basically children.

Even now, though, in every state in the US, you're not a full adult when you're eighteen. You're not allowed to buy alcohol until you're 21. In a lot of states you're not allowed to buy cigarettes. We've decided that, despite being "grown ups", they're still not grown up enough to be trusted with these things.

To be clear, I'm perfectly fine throwing her in prison for the rest of her life without parole, like she would be had she committed the crime in a state without capital punishment like NY. I'm just particularly turned off by the death penalty. I can sit here and wax philosophical as to why but I'm sure you've heard the arguments and it would be a tangent.

fy20 27 minutes ago | parent

Sounds more like they to be in a mental hosptial than a prison.

mytailorisrich 23 minutes ago | parent

For me the issue isn't so much to execute someone for something they did at 18 (18 is plenty old enough to knowingly do atrocious things), but rather to do it 32 years later with all the time spent in jail.

k310 58 minutes ago | parent

I recall a sci fi movie about a man who grew stronger with electrical current. Man made monster.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-Made_Monster

You KNOW that we are living in the Twilight Zone right now. Plus a bunch of Star Trek's (Return of the Archons) and some Hitchcock. Bang! You're Dead. With Billy Mumy.

https://slate.com/culture/2013/05/alfred-hitchcock-gun-contr...

LargoLasskhyfv 21 minutes ago | parent

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shocker_(film) is better.

joegibbs 28 minutes ago | parent

I am very against medicalised punishments like this. It’s bad for medicine as a whole to be associated with it. I also think it prolongs the suffering of the person and often has things like this happen, and is mainly for the benefit of the audience not wanting to see icky blood.

What is wrong with firing squads? They have been used longer than lethal injections. If they didn’t succeed the first time they can fire again. There’s no danger of the drugs not working or not being able to find a vein.

Also I don’t think it’s right for a prisoner to be on death row for most of their lives. 4-5 years is good enough, but after that it’s cruel.