# Tennessee Fails to Execute the Execution of Christa Pike. Twice **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 1, 2026, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507 "2026-10-01T08:24:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/121 "2026-10-02T13:55:49Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > That’s how civilized countries do it. The death penalty is too easy. Civilized countries let them rot. ADX Colorado is a perfect example of how to do it. Death is a release; ADX Colorado is a living hell, to be tolerated until the inmate’s life expires naturally. Actually, civilized countries (like modern Germany) attempt to rehabilitate prisoners with an eye toward releasing them some day. Even murderers. > **[This is prison? 60 Minutes goes to Germany](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/this-is-prison-60-minutes-goes-to-germany/)** > > Germany's prison system keeps convicts comfortable, costs less and has lower recidivism rates, but would Americans ever accept it? > [@60 Minutes](#): > > In Germany, 75 percent of prisoners sentenced to life are paroled after 20 years or less, even Bernd Junge, a contract killer who shot a woman to death. Should Junge, who Whitaker meets on an unsupervised weekend furlough, be offered a future? “Yes, he should,” says Joerg Jesse, a psychologist and the director of prisons in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Jesse says German inmates deserve rehabilitation, not retribution, during their prison stays. I’m of two minds here. I see their point, but I would have a problem ever releasing someone like the two [Petit killers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Cheshire,_Connecticut_murders) who committed their heinous crimes here in Connecticut nearly 20 years ago. And if anyone was ever deserving of execution, it would be these two. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/122 "2026-10-02T13:57:17Z")
I don’t think they have to release someone who they think is still dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/123 "2026-10-02T13:59:59Z")
No, of course not. That’s why the percentage released in the quote above is 75% and not 100%. But they still attempt to rehabilitate all prisoners with an eye toward possible release someday. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/124 "2026-10-02T14:26:25Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > Not only because someone they cared about died (and quite often in a particularly heinous way), but because they have so often been raised in a society that tells them the only way that they can have justice is with a kind of blood vengeance. Not a fair trial that upholds the rights of all and ends with the guilt party (if there is one) receiving a fair sentence that at least respects basic human dignity, but death. They, and many of us at one time or another, are as much victims of the state and of society’s brainwashing as they are of the actual murderer. It is extremely condescending to claim that someone who forms an opinion that differs from yours is brainwashed by someone else (with the implication that you, in contrast, have reached _your_ conclusion through rational consideration). What you have just written can be accurately summarized as “Wake up, sheeple!”. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/125 "2026-10-02T15:08:51Z")
I had a similar reaction to that post. I grew up in the same society and i don’t feel like i need blood for justice. I don’t see any reason to assume that the family of the victim does, either. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/126 "2026-10-02T16:37:07Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The people collectively elect legislatures and somehow select judges to first codify and then enforce the standards of that society. Individuals aren’t involved except as part of the collective whole. To the point about closure, although the offense is said to be against the state, this is just how it has to be in order for victims to get justice without devolving into a society of vigilantism. For various reasons it’s both convenient and important to refer to “the state” as its own entity with interests that supersede and outlive the individual, but ultimately it derives its legitimacy from its ability to serve the needs of the people, i.e. dispense justice. If the people want retributive justice, then the state loses its legitimacy among its constituents if it doesn’t deliver that. And whether we admit it or not, whether we express it this way or not, large segments of the public understand justice to be partially retributive in character. There’s no real restitution for the taking of a loved one’s life. Some people are too depraved to rehabilitate. In those cases the only satisfaction of justice is retributive. They must pay. Maybe they can’t repay me, maybe they can’t repay the state, but all the same, they must pay. If this is what the people want (and it seems that more people want this than anyone’s comfortable admitting), and the state doesn’t deliver it, then the state loses its legitimacy as a dispenser of justice, which is a load-bearing pillar of the state’s whole legitimacy. So while the individual need for restitution or retribution gets subsumed into the interests of the state, it very does much matter. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/127 "2026-10-02T17:11:30Z")
I’m going to add some perspective from the victim’s survivor’s side. For background, my brother and his best friend were kidnapped, stuffed into the trunk of the friend’s car, and driven around for hours. Eventually they were taken out of the trunk, beaten, then run over with the friend’s car and left for dead. The friend did die, but my brother survived. Five young men (aged 17-22, IIRC) were arrested and convicted of a litany of charges. Their guilt was not in question - each of them implicated the others in their confessions and at their respective trials, and some implicated themselves, too. Of the five, I believe four are dead. All went to prison, where I think a couple of them died (don’t remember how). Two were released after serving their terms but their lives ended as a result of continuing to make bad decisions. One remains incarcerated, serving a life term but eligible for parole. The local DA’s office kept my family updated on the convicts’ fates for probably 40 years, as things happened (ie releases, additional convictions, death). I think they still contact my mother every time the last one has a parole hearing. In all that time, we have persevered. We went on to have typical lives. My brother still had nightmares for the rest of his life, but with time and therapy, they became less frequent and less upsetting. At first, I desperately wanted the DA to seek the death penalty. (They did not.) Even after convictions and sentences, I wanted them dead. Eventually I realized that my bloodlust was only hurting me. My preoccupation with their punishment made me less of a person than I wanted to be. I had to let go of my anger. Once I did that, I no longer ‘sought closure’. I had my closure: each of the perpetrators was arrested, tried, and convicted. I had to move on. So I did. For me, closure didn’t come when I learned of each of their deaths. In fact, I felt sorrow for them for their wasted lives, the hurt they caused us and their own families, and for the friend’s mother who never, to her dying day, was able to grieve and move on. I did not dance on their graves. I had - and have - things that are more important to me. (My experience and opinions only. I don’t pretend to think anybody else should react or behave as I did.) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/128 "2026-10-02T17:26:47Z")
Not an assumption, but I seriously wonder if a family’s beliefs about the inhumanity of the suspect and the urgent need to execute them is constantly reenforced by the police that arrested them and the prosecutors that try them. Far too often the need for a win on both their parts and the almost unique contact they have with the victim’s families can create a feedback loop. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/129 "2026-10-02T17:52:24Z")
> [@robby](#): > > I’m of two minds here. I see their point, but I would have a problem ever releasing someone like the two [Petit killers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Cheshire,_Connecticut_murders) who committed their heinous crimes here in Connecticut nearly 20 years ago. And if anyone was ever deserving of execution, it would be these two. There’s no conflict between a general philosophy of rehabilitation and limited sentences, which we have in Canada, too, and preventing someone from ever being released. In Canada, the latter is accomplished by declaring someone a “dangerous offender”, which is an extra hurdle the court must go through and which rarely happens, but once done it means normal rules don’t apply. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > I don’t think they have to release someone who they think is still dangerous. Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/130 "2026-10-02T18:17:37Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > I just keep coming back to the victim’s mother. Make no mistake, I oppose the death penalty in all its forms, but I do have some empathy for the survivors of the victim (of the underlying crime). Death penalty cases come with tons of reviews and appeals, regurgitating all the facts, bringing back in the families, etc. If Christa Pike was just sentenced to life without parole, that would be the end of it. Instead, the wound is reopened over and over. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/131 "2026-10-02T18:35:16Z")
> [@ricepad](#): > > Eventually I realized that my bloodlust was only hurting me. My preoccupation with their punishment made me less of a person than I wanted to be. I had to let go of my anger. Once I did that, I no longer ‘sought closure’. I had my closure: each of the perpetrators was arrested, tried, and convicted. I had to move on. So I did. Thank you for sharing and I’m sorry to hear your brother and his friend went through that. In my experience with grievances of any magnitude, closure is something you have to give yourself. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/132 "2026-10-02T18:47:35Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > closure is something you have to give yourself. That, IMO, is the “TL;DR” of it all. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/133 "2026-10-02T21:16:04Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > It gets me how murder has become so acceptable in society. She deserves to suffer, her victim did. > They need a more foolproof method though. Although I’m not in favor of the death penalty, I’ve just read the details of exactly how she tortured her victim. I have no sympathy for her. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/134 "2026-10-02T21:21:43Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > All this bit about closure and victims and families is a silly red herring. An unpredictable and counterproductive emotional soap opera wrongly grafted onto a legitimate and sober legal system. > > In all criminal law, the injured party is the State, not any particular person. It’s not a red herring when elected lawmakers, elected governors, and :cringe: elected judges pass laws, make clemency decisions, and pass sentence based on what they think will thrill or mortify voters more: state-sponsored vengeance or letting convicted murderers live out their lives at state expense. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > I had a similar reaction to that post. I grew up in the same society and i don’t feel like i need blood for justice. I don’t see any reason to assume that the family of the victim does, either. The victim’s mother has been quite explicit. This isn’t the first article I read about her position, but it was the most explicit I could find off the cuff: > **[Victim's mom who witnessed killer's botched execution speaks of 'justice'](https://www.the-sun.com/news/17083116/christa-pike-botched-execution-victims-mother-demand-justice/)** > > THE grieving mother of Christa Pike’s victim repeatedly begged for “justice” for her daughter in the weeks before traveling hundreds of miles to witness the killer’s executi… She has been _very clear_ that, to her mind, justice for her and for her murdered daughter demands death for Christa Gail Pike. See also: > **[Mom of Christa Pike's victim rages over botched execution](https://www.the-sun.com/news/17087510/christa-pike-colleen-slemmer-mom-botched-execution-response/)** > > THE grief-stricken mom of Christa Pike’s victim has issued a furious response to the death row killer’s botched execution. Pike, 50, has been on death row for the brutal 1995 murder of … > [@RitterSport](#): > > Death penalty cases come with tons of reviews and appeals, regurgitating all the facts, bringing back in the families, etc. If Christa Pike was just sentenced to life without parole, that would be the end of it. Instead, the wound is reopened over and over. Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/135 "2026-10-02T22:06:01Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > But there was a definite moment----a fraction of a millisecond-- where the state’s desired outcome did about as serious of a 180 that you’ll ever see. Well, don’t they make sure to do an alcohol swab right before the lethal injection? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/136 "2026-10-02T22:27:48Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > The victim’s mother has been quite explicit. This isn’t the first article I read about her position, but it was the most explicit I could find off the cuff: One cannot dismiss blood lust or assume how anyone will feel or react after their kid is murdered. One person may eventually move on, another may feel forever cheated that they could not enact bloody vengeance with their own two hands and a state execution where you get to watch them die is merely cheap consolation. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/137 "2026-10-02T22:28:20Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Well, don’t they make sure to do an alcohol swab right before the lethal injection? See? You just never know when a “patient” will survive her execution and when she does, you sure don’t want her needle hole infected… the state might get sued! ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2026, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/138 "2026-10-03T00:00:06Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > > [@SuntanLotion](#): > > > > It gets me how murder has become so acceptable in society. She deserves to suffer, her victim did. > > They need a more foolproof method though. > > Although I’m not in favor of the death penalty, I’ve just read the details of exactly how she tortured her victim. I have no sympathy for her. Me either, but it’s absurd for @SuntanLotion to assume that being opposed to the death penalty for murder, or objecting to unreliable and torturous execution methods, equates to considering murder “acceptable in society”. That’s bullshit. You can be unflinchingly opposed to murder but still not want murderers killed or tortured in the criminal justice system. Not because you consider the murderer’s actions “acceptable”, but because you consider it wrong for non-murderers to deliberately inflict death or physical suffering on criminals, however heinous, who are no longer a direct danger to their fellow humans. No matter how much the heinous criminals may arguably have “deserved” such suffering and death. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2026, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/139 "2026-10-03T00:11:52Z")
The State wants to be totally certain that the only thing responsible for the death of the prisoner is The State. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2026, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/140 "2026-10-03T03:32:59Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Me either, but it’s absurd for @SuntanLotion to assume that being opposed to the death penalty for murder, or objecting to unreliable and torturous execution methods, equates to considering murder “acceptable in society”. That’s bullshit. You can be unflinchingly opposed to murder but still not want murderers killed or tortured in the criminal justice system. I agree. I failed to make it clear that my statement intended only to share my lack of sympathy for Pike. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507.md?page=8)