Blogger’s Note: Karl Marx was opposed to the Death Penalty – but his opinion was not premised upon moral outrage, but rather a cold assessment of material reality surrounding how the British State applied judicial killing. He stated that no-one – not even the State – possessed the right to do any damage to his body, for whatever reason. This viewpoint departs from that found within the Old Testament – but accords with that of Jesus Christ. Of course, Lenin interpreted this a little differently. He said that the State should not kill workers and that workers should not kill other workers. The State should not kill citizens for any type of civil crime. However, Lenin, as a lawyer, was of the opinion that the State could execute individuals (workers or otherwise) for “political” crimes. Although I will have to check this, I have a memory of a British hangman (I think “William Marwood” who plied his trade at the now closed “Bodmin Gaol” amongst others – a place I have visited and sat in the cells) who stated that he opposed the death penalty and that he supported the Soviet policy to limit judicial executions to just the “political”. Indeed, Stalin abolished the death penalty outright in 1948 – but Khrushchev re-instated it in 1956 – but only for “civil” crimes. Of course, the UK abolished hanging in the 1960s after a number of highly publicised miscarriages of justice and a growing public resistance to the practice. Today, only lunatics, fascists, and reprobates would ever consider surrendering the individual power to prevent executions – and give that power back to an uncaring State. Having said that, the various regimes that occupied the British Isles over the last 2000-years or more – did carry-out the arbitrary killing of individuals for all kinds of spurious reasons – the Christian Church being one of the greatest killers. Midwives were routinely executed by the Church for daring to care for pregnant women. Indeed, although the UK still possesses Midwives – the US effectively banned this profession due to its association with Witchcraft. How cool is that? Perhaps the final irony is that after the British traitors assumed control of the colonies the UK had established in the Americas – their first act was to abolish the death penalty because it was a remnant of the old Europe the British traitors had abandoned. That and the fact that these scandrals knew that if England ever assumed control of the colonies again – Washington, Jefferson, and all the rest – would probably end-up dangling from ropes after ten-minute trials for “Treason”. It was the “Americans” who invented long-term imprisonment in lieu of execution – but as time went by – it was obvious that the capitalist system will always generate crime due to its unjust functionality. Only intense fear of the consequences would stop the poor stealing food or acting in a desperate or inhumane manner. Even when the fear mechanism of execution was established – genetic disorders rose from one generation to the next that inevitably led to aberrant behaviours. No amount of threatening or privileging can stop this type of offending. It is an evolutionary medical issue that needs to be cured through the development of compassionate science. The social anarchy that exists within the free market is a breeding ground for dysfunctionality. Just as long as 10% of a capitalist society wants to live in luxury within a gated community at the expense of the other 90% – a significant proportion of that 90% will resort to criminal behaviour and think nothing of it. The causes of crime is capitalism. As Marx commented – the capitalists will produce the rope that will be used to hang them (an act I do not endorse or encourage). ACW (2.10.2026)
BBC – Brandon Drenon – 2.10.2026
Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike is in “critical condition, receiving life-saving care” in hospital, after surviving two lethal injection attempts, leading the state’s governor to halt all executions for the year.
“We don’t have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment,” her lawyer Randy Spivey told reporters on Thursday. “But we do know that she is alive right now.”
Her lawyers are now asking for her sentence to be commuted. Pike, 50, was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of Colleen Slemmer.
She was injected with two lethal doses of pentobarbital on Wednesday but remained alive, her lawyers said. She was then sent to hospital in an ambulance.
Details have continued to emerge about what happened during the failed execution attempt.
“Last night, the execution team attempted to establish an IV line for an hour,” Spivey said.
“I counted at least seven needles used in her left arm alone, one of which appeared to be bent when it was pulled from her arm after an unsuccessful attempt.”
One media witness reported that Pike had complained about the pain of the injections, saying: “My arm feels like it’s about to burst open.”
Another witness, the Nashville Banner’s reporter Steven Hale, told the BBC: “None of us had seen anything like that. It was definitely a disaster by pretty much any way of looking at it.”
Hale told Radio 4’s Today programme: “To be blunt, she didn’t seem to be dying. She just seemed to be in this in-between state, and stayed that way for quite a long time, much longer than would have been normal.”
US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has given his own reaction to the botched attempt, saying: “It shouldn’t be very difficult.”
Pike was 18 when she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, beat, tortured and killed 19-year-old Slemmer.
Her attempted execution on Wednesday was the subject of a last-minute legal battle. This culminated in the US Supreme Court allowing the lethal injections to go ahead.
Slemmer’s mother May Martinez, who was among those who wanted the execution to take place and who travelled to Tennessee to witness it, told NBC News after the botched attempt that “it was a mess”.
Shipp was given a life sentence with the possibility of parole and he remains in prison.
He was spared the death penalty for his part in the attack because he was not yet legally an adult at the time.
In their account of Wednesday’s events, Pike’s lawyers described a scene that was shrouded in secrecy.
Spivey said that observers were kept in a dark room behind a closed curtain, after the second lethal dose had been administered and “it was clear that Miss Pike was still breathing” minutes later.
“No-one knew what was going on behind that curtain,” Spivey said. “I had no idea when and if medical professionals began to assist.”
Spivey said the state’s governor must commute Christa’s sentence now, a request that was denied previously.
Stephen Ferrell, another of Pike’s lawyers, said they were also looking at other legal options.
“We want to think this through and we want to make sure that Christa recovers and has some input in what she wants,” he said.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has ordered an independent review and said on Thursday the investigation into Pike’s botched execution “will be thorough”, adding that “it’s going to take time”.
“There are a lot of questions,” Lee said. “The people of our state deserve to have those questions answered, and that’s what this investigation is for.”
Lee has not made clear who will conduct the independent review of the state’s execution procedures.
His order to pause all executions will overlap with the planned 3 December execution of convicted murderer Gary Sutton.
The Tennessee Department of Correction, which handled the execution, issued a statement defending its handling of the case.
It said in a statement that it “followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the attorney general’s office”.
“The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective, and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out this evening.”
Pike was given two doses of the chemical pentobarbital, in accordance with state protocol when the first attempt fails, but was still alive afterwards, according to court filings by her lawyers.
The execution was causing Pike “unnecessary agony” and was violating her right to be executed “free of cruel and unusual punishment”, her lawyers said.
The Tennessee attorney general’s office said in a statement that it agreed with the decision to call for an investigation, adding: “We need to know what happened.”
US Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, who is running for Tennessee governor, described the situation as “tragic”.
“While there should be a thorough review of what happened and why the process failed, the answer is simple: bring back the electric chair,” Blackburn said.
Democrat Jerri Green, Blackburn’s opponent, criticised her for wanting to “bring back one of the most cruel forms of capital punishment”.
“As governor, I would put a moratorium on all future executions,” Green said on X.
This is the second time in 2026 Tennessee officials attempted and failed to execute a prisoner.
In May, the execution of Tony Carruthers was called off after staff were unable to find a vein to administer a lethal drug. Carruthers was given a year’s reprieve.
With additional reporting by Stephanie Hegarty, World Service correspondent
Further Reading:
What happened in the failed execution of Christa Pike – and what next?
Why the death penalty is on the rise in US
US death row inmate survives execution attempt after two lethal injections
