America’s death penalty problem
Today, Explained

America’s death penalty problem

B2Upper-intermediateOctober 12, 202625 min
  • Crime & justice

Support for the death penalty has dropped dramatically in the US, but in some places there's still a "death penalty assembly line" as this episode of The Gray Area explores. This episode was produced by Thor Neureiter and Beth Morrissey, with help from Miranda Kennedy and Amina Al-Sadi, engineered by Shannon Mahoney and David Tatasciore, fact checked by Melissa Hirsch, and hosted by Miles Bryan. Walls Unit in Huntsville prison is where lethal injections are carried out on inmates. Photo by Jerry Cabluck/Sygma via Getty Images. Listen to Today, Explained ad-free by...

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a classmate.

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0:00

In 1995, 18-year-old Krista Pike, along with her boyfriend and a friend, tortured and killed a classmate. Pike was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for her part in the crimes. Last month, officials in Tennessee, where their murder took place, tried to execute

0:17

her. Around 7.30 at night, officials gave Pike pentobarbital at a dose high enough that it should cause someone to stop breathing and die. But she didn't.

0:26

She's breathing, moaning, snoring. So the state gave her another dose, but that didn't work either. Around 9 p.m., the ambulances arrived. Six days later, Pike woke up and started talking.

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