Failed execution in Tennessee renews debate over humane capital punishment

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WACH) — The debate over capital punishment comes from both sides of the issue, but one point remains central: The state is responsible for ensuring that an execution is carried out humanely.

Tennessee woman Christa Pike's attorneys say she survived an attempted execution after staff struggled to establish an IV. Her legal team says her underlying medical conditions made the process painful.

“If you have executions, there will always be an opportunity for them to be botched, for them to not go according to the state's protocol,” said Hillary Taylor of South Carolinians Against the Death Penalty.

Similar concerns were raised following South Carolina's execution of Mikal Mahdi by firing squad.

Mahdi's legal team said that, despite his death, the execution was botched. Taylor, the executive director of South Carolinians Against the Death Penalty, also called for an investigation.

“We only saw two evidence of two bullets entering Mikhail Mahdi's body, and not three,” Taylor said.

Autopsy photos of Mahdi showed two gunshot wounds instead of three, with wounds that missed the intended target area on his body.

“Even though the state claims that two bullets entered the same wound area, which is not physically possible according to physics,” Taylor said.

Solicitor David Pascoe said in a statement to WACH Fox News that he favors capital punishment but acknowledged that the state has a duty to ensure a humane execution.

Taylor said capital punishment should be abolished and argued that Pike's case demonstrates that no state can guarantee a humane execution.

“The government is not able to carry out the thing that it says it is supposed to do and will do, which is execute somebody swiftly and according to its own protocol,” Taylor said.

Tennessee officials have not announced whether they would attempt to execute Pike again or whether a different method would be used if they did.