Category: Business

The surprising multi-million-dollar cost of executing killers is under the spotlight since the failed lethal injection of death row inmate Christa Pike drew global attention.

Murderer Pike survived two doses of the poisonous drug pentobarbital by the Tennessee Department of Correction on September 30 after languishing behind bars for over three decades.

Her case is estimated by an anti-death penalty group to have cost taxpayers over $3 million so far, with medical bills, legal challenges, her continued incarceration and investigation costs set to push that figure higher, reports The US Sun.

She was due to be executed for the 1995 murder of classmate Colleen Slemmer, but instead she is ‘conscious, speaking’ according to her legal team.

They say faulty IV lines allowed the drug to leak into her tissue, causing both arms to become ‘swollen, burned and blistered’.

According to published Nashville hospital rates, the six days of intensive care Pike has received could already have produced a $26K bill, not including the costs of round-the-clock security and continuing legal fees.

Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty executive director Stacy Rector told The US Sun, “I would guess her case has exceeded $3 million, before this botched execution attempt.

“I can’t even begin to guess what her hospital bill will be once this is all over – a hundred thousand plus?

“All is being paid by TN taxpayers.”

Pike was being held at the Nashville Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center before she was moved to the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution for her failed execution.

The estimated bill for Pike’s execution was based on data collected by a Maryland study from 1978 to 1999 of 1,136 murder cases where the death penalty could have been imposed.

Where prosecutors did not seek the death penalty the average bill was about $1.1 million.

In cases where the death penalty was sought but not imposed the bill rose to $1.8 million.

However, in cases where the death penalty was imposed costs were around $3 million, including the trial, the appeals process and incarceration.

An Ohio Legislative Service Commission study concluded in 2021 that death penalty cases cost up to five times more than non-capital cases – which could work out to between $1 million and $3 million per case.

In Indiana, costs were up to eight times higher for death row cases.

In Tennessee research by the state found taxpayers paid around 48% more where the death penalty is imposed when compared to life imprisonment.

Rector said, “I think the cost is a colossal waste of tax dollars spent pursuing death for a handful of people who are already incarcerated.”

She added, “Too many Tennesseans lack access to mental health care, and our Department of Children’s Services continues to struggle to serve children like Christa Pike, who have experienced terrible trauma and violence.”

Rector explained how taxpayers largely remain ignorant of how much money is being spent on death row and execution in their home states.

She said, “Our organization, TADP, continues to educate people about these costs, but too many Tennesseans don’t know how expensive it is.

“Our state has no centralized mechanism to track these costs so taxpayers are in the dark.”

After three decades on death row and a failed execution attempt via the lethal injection, Christa Pike has now woken up.

The killer, now aged 50, is ‘conscious and speaking’ her lawyers have confirmed. However she remains in hospital receiving critical care by specialists.

Pike was sentenced to death after murdering Colleen Slemmer in 1995, survived the two failed lethal injections last Wednesday (30 September) in Tennessee.

After being rushed to hospital, she remained unconscious for days as medical staff cleared her body of the injected chemical which was supposed to claim her life.

She has become the first person ever to get full doses of the drugs intended to kill her and survive. She was supposed to become the first woman put to death in Tennessee in two centuries.

Her legal team said faulty IV lines allowed the drug to leak into her tissue, causing both arms to become ‘swollen, burned and blistered’.

She has been locked up since 1996 after killing her classmate, Colleen Slemmer, when she was 18 at the time.

Gov. Bill Lee later halted the one remaining execution for the rest of the year in Tennessee pending an investigation.

Pike’s case is estimated by an anti-death penalty group to have cost taxpayers over $3 million so far, with medical bills, legal challenges, her continued incarceration and investigation costs set to push that figure higher, reports The US Sun.

According to published Nashville hospital rates, the six days of intensive care Pike has received could already have produced a $26K bill, not including the costs of round-the-clock security and continuing legal fees.

Will she face a second execution?

Whether or not Pike will face a second execution has not yet been determined.

Her former attorney previously told LADbible that if she had been severely brain damaged and left incapacitated by the first botched attempt, that it would not be attempted again.

However Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has not yet responded to repeated calls from her attorney’s to commute her sentence from the death penalty to spending the rest of her life in prison.

“Against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care,” her attorneys said in a statement.

“Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery.”

There is the possibility that Pike could face a second execution, especially due to her regaining consciousness.

However the last time the Supreme Court had to address whether an inmate who survived an execution would face another one was back in 1947.

“We’re in uncharted territory,” Robin Maher, executive director of the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, told USA today.

“The U.S. Supreme Court has not decided whether a second execution attempt would violate the constitution since 1947.

“These are questions that have never needed to be asked before and no one knows the answers.”

Earlier this year, in May, Tennessee had botched another execution as inmate Tony Carruthers also survived.

Executioners failed to establish a second IV line required under the state’s execution protocol. And, after spending more than an hour strapped down, the state abandoned the execution.

He was granted a rare one-year reprieve leaving open the option to try to execute him again.

A British man who set off on his journey home from Chile in 1998 finally set foot back in the UK this week after swimming the English Channel.

Karl Bushby lived out the dream of many Gen Z’ers who want to quit their job and travel, by setting himself the mission of returning to his home in Hull on foot, using no methods of mechanical transport in the process.

We’ve seen some pretty crazy challenges online in recent years, whether it’s the Hardest Geezer running the length of Africa, or an Aussie woman tackling the length of her home nation on foot, but none can compare with the 28-year journey that Bushby has set himself.

But despite challenges over that 29 years which have included the Coronavirus pandemic and a near-death experience following a polar bear attack, it largely seems to be a challenge that Bushby has enjoyed rather than endured.

Speaking to CBS News last year, the 56-year-old Brit said: “I’ve found nothing but the best in those 27 years, which has just been remarkable.

“Don’t be afraid, get off the couch, get out of bed, make it happen. That first step will open up a world of possibilities and opportunities, so don’t be afraid.”

And although he hoped to complete the last leg of his journey home through the English Channel on foot, an agreement couldn’t be agreed, so he ended up swimming for over 20 hours across three days in order to land back on the British beaches.

Bushby said: “[It] feels good to have UK soil under my feet after all these years. It hasn’t been easy, and that’s part of the point; proving I’m more capable than I give myself credit for.”

He added: “All of us can accomplish more than we will ever imagine.”

HM Coastguard said it ‘liaised with French authorities and maritime sector partners to ensure safety protocols were met’, after Bushby’s initial request to walk down the Channel Tunnel was vetoed.

It is now expected that Bushby will return to his home in Hull in early November as he completes the final leg of his journey after landing on the beaches in Dover, which will almost make it 28 years to the day since he left South America on 1 November 1998.

His journey has taken him across 28 different countries and seen him travel over 30,000 miles but when he spoke from Belgium earlier this year, it seems as if his legs and his body had finally had enough, as he’s no doubt desperate to get home and put his feet up with a cup of tea and a biscuit.

He’s certainly timed his return home well, as he will get to watch Premier League teams get mauled by the tigers in his home town of Hull.