Florida's execution of James Robertson weaponizes the law
Florida executed James Robertson after he killed a cellmate to secure a death sentence, proving that a process lacking rigor becomes a tool for state-assisted suicide.
By Adele Rutherford ·
lethal injection — Lorien Times
Tennessee botched Christa Pike's execution and cannot try again
After botching an execution with two doses of pentobarbital, Tennessee has no constitutional authority to strap Christa Pike down for another try.
By Adele Rutherford ·
Tennessee's failed execution of Christa Pike exposes systemic rot
After Tennessee botched the execution of Christa Pike, the state must commute her sentence because a government that cannot safely administer its own laws forfeits the right to try again.
By Adele Rutherford ·
Tennessee forfeits right to execute Christa Pike after failure
After Tennessee failed to execute Christa Pike, the state lost its legal authority to make a second attempt under the Eighth Amendment.
By Adele Rutherford ·
Christa Pike survives Tennessee lethal injection as execution fails
Christa Pike woke in a Nashville hospital after surviving two pentobarbital doses, exposing state incompetence and forcing a reckoning over capital punishment.
By Adele Rutherford ·
Failed execution of Christa Pike exposes a broken state process
After Tennessee's failed execution of Christa Pike left her unconscious, the state's suspension of executions and commissioner's resignation expose a profound breakdown in legal procedure.
By Adele Rutherford ·
Tennessee botches execution of Christa Pike in breakdown of law
Tennessee botched the execution of Christa Pike with seven needle insertions, showing that a state unable to follow procedure forfeits its legal authority.
By Adele Rutherford ·
Frank Strada resigns as lethal injection proves state torture
Frank Strada steps down after Christa Pike survives two pentobarbital doses, proving that Tennessee's lethal injection protocol is a cover story for medical malpractice.
By Josie Calloway ·
State-sanctioned torture leaves Christa Pike on a ventilator
Tennessee's botched lethal injection of Christa Pike exposes the grotesque cruelty of capital punishment and demands the total abolition of the state's death penalty.
By Maya Ellison ·
Frank Strada and the cruel machinery of botched executions
Tennessee corrections chief Frank Strada oversaw five botched executions, leaving Christa Pike on a ventilator after a failed lethal injection exposed state-sponsored torture.
By Maya Ellison ·
Tennessee cannot retry Christa Pike after a botched execution
Christa Pike survived a botched execution in Tennessee, forcing the state to confront whether repeating a failed lethal injection violates the Eighth Amendment.
By Adele Rutherford ·
The high court clears the way as Tennessee sets an execution
The United States Supreme Court denied Christa Pike a stay, leaving the state to carry out an execution that tests our legal rules on youth and trauma.
By Adele Rutherford ·
Christa Pike faces death in Tennessee through a flawed process
Tennessee moves to execute its only female death row inmate despite her severe childhood trauma, choosing administrative finality over the basic demands of justice.
By Adele Rutherford ·
Alabama broke its word to Jeffery Lee and failed the law
In my father’s shop, a man’s word was the only currency that didn’t depreciate when the markets turned.
By Ruth Behrens ·
Tennessee, Alabama, Oklahoma: Justice is a state-run slaughterhouse
I don't know what the architects of American justice are thinking these days, but it ain't about doing right. It’s about spectacle.
By Josie Calloway ·
Florida puts ex-police officer to death for girl’s murder, first of 2 executions set for single day
The mechanics of American jurisprudence are supposed to be slow.
By Nikhil Raghavan ·