Two Botched Executions, Only One Outcry

Christa Pike

The internet is abuzz over the botched execution of Christa Pike via lethal injection. She was twice injected with pentobarbital, a drug used in veterinary euthanasia and adopted by Tennessee as a replacement for the older sequence of anesthetic, paralytic, and potassium chloride to stop the heart. There had been outcry that insufficient anesthetic might leave the murderer able to feel pain while dying, leading to manufacturers' refusal to sell the drugs for executions. Pentobarbital is expected to quickly cause unconsciousness, respiratory arrest, and death. 

Why Was Christa Slated for Death?

In January of 1995, Christa Pike was 18 years old, living at a Job Corps center. Pike was convinced that a classmate, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, was trying to steal her boyfriend, 17-year-old Tadaryl Shipp. Pike enlisted the help of Shipp and another Job Corps student, 18-year-old Shadolla Peterson, to kill Colleen.

Colleen Slemmer

The three of them told Colleen that they were going to make peace and get high together. They took her to a remote area of the Job Corps campus. Shadolla Peterson kept watch while Christa Pike and Tadaryl Shipp tortured Christa to death. Over a period of about 30 minutes, they beat her, slammed her head into concrete, cut her with a box cutter and a meat cleaver, and carved a pentagram into her chest while their terrified victim begged them to stop. At one point Colleen was able to break free and run, but they chased her down and resumed the attack. Christa Pike finally finished the job by bashing Colleen's head in with a chunk of asphalt.

Pike took a piece of Colleen's skull as a souvenir and showed it off to classmates, describing what she had done to the teen she had viewed as a rival for Tadaryl Shipp's affections.

This brazenness, of course, led to her arrest, conviction, and death sentence.

But Wait! There's More!

Christa Pike's murderous impulses didn't end with the death of Colleen Slemmer. While on Death Row she tried to strangle another inmate. She chose to remain a danger to the lives of others even while incarcerated.

Another Botched Lethal Injection

The botched execution of Christa Pike made me think of another botched execution -- the execution of Sarah Brown in Kansas during the summer of 1993. Two injections of potassium chloride directly into her brain were unsuccessful in causing death. She was then wrapped in a blanket and left unattended for 24 hours before a nurse intervened and said that Sarah should be provided with care. Severely brain damaged, Sarah lost her vision and would never walk or talk. She died five years later, on September 28, 1998.

What crime had Sarah Brown committed that had ended in her being slated for death?

Sarah Brown

Sarah's crime was the mere fact of her existence. She came into being in the womb of a mother who chose an abortion at 36 weeks. Using Sarah's mother's age -- just 15 years old -- Dr. George Tiller proclaimed the death of Sarah to be vital to preserving the health of her mother.

There was no public outcry over Sarah Brown's botched execution. There were no hearings to determine if it was okay to continue to inject potassium chloride into the brains of healthy, viable unborn babies. In fact, when the Attorney General of Kansas decided to address Tiller's post-viability "health of the mother" abortions, it was he, not Tiller, whose career was destroyed.

That's how we do things in America. Just as abortion-rights activists who had power and authority in Pennsylvania moved to protect the interests of Kermit Gosnell, abortion-rights activists who had power and authority in Kansas moved to protect the interests of George Tiller.

Christa Pike botched execution lead to a huge public outcry, a huge public debate, and political wrangling over when and how and why to execute people who have committed a crime and gone through due process. Would that Sarah Brown's botched execution had gotten even a tenth of that attention.

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Veteran pro-life investigator Kevin Sherlock asks people of good will to help him have Planned Parenthood prosecuted for profiteering from the rapes and incests of underage girls many thousands of times each year.

Sherlock has  pulled the police records of hundreds of cities and has pulled the child protective services records of multiple states to prove Planned Parenthood staffers are violating mandated reporting laws designed to protect girl victims.   But there is more to be done. Sherlock will make sure more and more evidence gets to federal and state prosecutors who care about protecting girls from abusers and profiteers.

If you would like to help, please click the following link:

https://www.givesendgo.com/stop-pp-from-profiteering-from-the-rapes

Sherlock has talked to many girls and young women who trust him. Their stories and the forensic evidence shows most of them undergo pill abortions or humiliating invasive surgical abortions due to fear or ignorance or pressure or coercion. He treats the girls or women carrying children or devastated from their abortions as friends and neighbors in his home town, not afterthoughts.

Thank you for doing what you can to help girls and fight sexual predators and rape profiteers.