Christa Pike: What next after failed execution?

Global News Podcast

The episode covers a range of global news stories, opening with the aftermath of Christa Pike's botched lethal injection execution in Tennessee and her uncertain legal

Key takeaways

• Christa Pike survived two lethal injections in Tennessee and remains unconscious on a ventilator, leaving her legal fate uncertain pending gubernatorial action.
• G7 leaders agreed to release up to 100 million barrels of diesel and crude reserves over four months after President Trump threatened a US export ban.
• New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced plans to close a legal loophole that previously allowed voluntary intoxication to be used as a defense in rape cases, following the Cornell University assault allegations.
• Argentina launched its first citizenship-by-investment program, offering passports for $350,000 cash or $800,000 in government bonds to address a severe financial crisis.
• Italy's one-euro home scheme faces hidden renovation costs and structural issues, though foreign buyers are bringing renewed economic energy to declining Sicilian towns like Mussomeli.

Main topics

• botched execution & death penalty debate
• G7 fuel reserves & US export policy
• campus sexual assault & consent law reform

Notable quotes

Her attorney said that as of last night, so Thursday night here in the US, that she was unconscious and breathing with the help of a ventilator.

Conclusion

Listeners gain a balanced overview of pressing legal, geopolitical, and social developments

Transcript preview

Speaker 4 (0:00) This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Speaker 4 (0:09) Welcome to the Haunted Library. Have you come in search of a tale? This podcast invites you to browse the shelves and find stories that will linger long after you've left this place. From gothic masterpieces to pulpy penny dreadfuls, join me, Colin Morgan, with new episodes twice a week. Find The Haunted Library wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 8 (0:36) I'm Marie Kuo-Oi from Asia Specific, where we bring you Asia-Pacific stories, unpacked by those who know them best. Vietnam is the world's second biggest exporter of coffee, and just like many other crops, climate change is threatening its production. But the country's main coffee bean, Robusta, is tolerant of hotter weather conditions. So will that give Vietnam an advantage as a coffee producer in future? Join us twice a week. Search for Asia Specific wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Speaker 1 (1:08) This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. Speaker 1 (1:14) I'm Charlotte Gallagher, and in the early hours of Saturday, the 3rd of October, these are our main stories. What's next for death row inmate Krista Pike, as her lawyers say she's unconscious after the botched execution attempt? G7 nations will now release up to 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil in a bid to stop soaring prices. We're at Cornell University where rape allegations have sparked outrage among students and beyond. Speaker 1 (1:47) Also in this podcast, why you could be able to buy an Argentinian passport and... The leadership that she brings to this as an astronaut, as a woman and as a black woman. I am so proud. We hear about the first black woman to lead a crew to the International Space Station. Speaker 1 (2:11) The first details have emerged about the condition of Krista Pike, the American woman who was taken from the execution chamber to a hospital room after surviving two lethal injections. Pike was given the death penalty for murdering Colleen Slemmer in 1995. Stephen Hale, a criminal justice reporter for the Nashville Banner, was one of seven journalists who witnessed her botched execution in Tennessee. He told me what's known about Pike's current condition. Speaker 3 (2:41) Her attorney said that as of last night, so Thursday night here in the US, that she was unconscious and breathing with the help of a ventilator. They said that she was receiving, you know, life preserving care, basically. So that's the current situation on her condition. Speaker 1 (2:59) What are the possible outcomes at this stage if Krista... does pull through? Because I know there have been situations in the past where they've tried to execute someone, it hasn't worked, and then they've done it again. Speaker 3 (3:12) Yeah, so in Tennessee earlier this year, for instance, as you might know, we had an execution that was called off because the execution team was struggling and was not ever successful at getting IVs placed in the man's... arms. His name was Tony Carruthers. His execution was called off. The governor gave him a one-year reprieve. So that just means they won't set an execution date for him for at least a year. But presumably at some point, the state may try to execute him again. In Krista Pike's case, obviously right now, like I said, she's in the hospital. Her legal status is a little unclear at the moment. Her attorneys have called on the governor to commute her sentence to life without parole. The governor has not done that yet. But he does have the power to do that. He's leaving office later this year and then we'll have an election for a new governor. So it's still very uncertain what this governor or a future governor would do in her case. Speaker 1 (4:07) You actually witnessed this botched execution. Can you talk us through what that was like? Because for most people, that is a totally alien experience. Speaker 3 (4:18) Yes, understandably so. The witness room in Tennessee here at the execution chamber is a small room, and there's a large window in that room that looks into the execution chamber. And so when the execution begins, they pull the curtain open. And when they did that, Krista Pike is in there strapped to the gurney. After the drugs had been administered, and if everything was going according to plan, she would have, you know, almost appeared to be losing consciousness and then, of course, die. And that didn't happen. You know, she kept breathing heavily, occasionally lifting off the gurney and kind of... with her mouth gaping open. They closed the curtain at one point and we weren't sure what was happening because we could still hear her. So we knew she was still alive and they opened the curtain and that's again, and they gave her a second dose of the lethal injection drug. And the same thing repeated itself. Speaker 1 (5:08) It sounds actually really traumatic to witness that. Speaker 3 (5:12) It was disturbing and I certainly can't pretend or I'd be lying if I said otherwise. But at the same time, it's important to me as a journalist that we witness these things so we can report on them. You know, as far as traumatizing, I guess in the moment and in the days since, you know, I've been thinking a lot about Colleen Slemmer's mother and her family who were, again, there to witness this. And whatever anyone thinks of the death penalty as a policy, they had been told that this was justice for their daughter. That's what the system told them. And they came to this prison to see this execution carried out. And then they had to watch what I just described as well. That is hard to imagine. So yeah, it was disturbing. It was a disturbing night all around. Speaker 1 (5:52) I know that you've wrote and reported extensively about the death penalty. And it's obviously very polarising as an issue. But do you think cases like this change people's minds about the death penalty? Speaker 3 (6:04) I certainly think they can. I think a lot of people obviously have a view on the death penalty that's based on sort of their moral view of it. Is it right to kill someone as punishment or not? But then there are other people who kind of look at it maybe in a more practical matters and just say like, OK, maybe in theory, this is OK in the worst circumstances. But can we do it in a humane and effective way? Obviously, this case was an extreme case. But the fact that the death penalty is part of America in some states. is taken for granted by a lot of people here. And so to get the emails, the phone calls, the interview requests from people in Europe and other places around the world, where it is clearly so shocking, it does kind of reframe it for me and I think for other Americans to go, okay, this is a very sobering thing for us to realize as Americans. Speaker 1 (6:56) That was Stephen Hale. In the last edition of the podcast,