Sen. Marsha Blackburn says Tennessee should bring back the electric chair as its method of execution, after the lethal injection of convicted Knoxville murderer Christa Pike failed last Wednesday.
Blackburn, who is expected to win Tennessee’s governor’s race in November, said the botched execution should not stop the state from carrying out the death penalty, but should push officials to find a method that works.
“While there should be a thorough review of what happened and why the process failed, the answer is simple: bring back the electric chair and deliver justice for these victims swiftly,” Blackburn said.
Pike, 50, survived two doses of lethal injection during her execution attempt last week. Outgoing Gov. Bill Lee responded by pausing all remaining executions in the state.
Speaking Monday, Blackburn said the failed execution “should not be grounds to halt carrying out the death penalty,” but should prompt a review of method.
“If it’s lethal injection, if it is electric chair, what we do know is we have to find a way to do this — and do it successfully,” she said, pointing to Florida, which she said has carried out 19 executions this year without a botched attempt.
Under Tennessee law, inmates convicted of crimes committed before Jan. 1, 1999 can choose electrocution over lethal injection by signing a waiver. Electrocution can also be used if lethal injection drugs are unavailable. Pike was sentenced to death row in 1996 and could have chosen that option.
Blackburn’s stance puts her at odds with her Democratic opponent in the governor’s race, Jerri Green, who has called for a moratorium on all future state executions.
Pike remains unconscious in the hospital, and it is unclear whether she will face another execution attempt. Her attorney, Stephen Ferrell, has asked that her death sentence be commuted.
“The least that could happen now is that we at least take death off the table and start looking for what the future could be for her,” Ferrell told CBS on Monday.
Pike was convicted of murdering fellow student Colleen Slemmer near the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville. She lured Slemmer to an isolated area with her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, where Slemmer was assaulted and tortured with a box cutter, including having a pentagram carved into her chest while still alive.
Pike was 18 at the time of the murder and was sentenced to death. Shipp, who was 17 during the killing, received a sentence of life plus 25 years with the possibility of parole. Pike was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, and has described herself as having been “a mentally ill 18-year-old kid” at the time of the crime.
