Christa Pike: What happens when executions go wrong?
Show notes
Last week, Christa Pike, a death row inmate in the US faced execution via lethal injection for a murder she committed in 1995. But after she was given two full doses of the drug pentobarbital, she survived. At the time of uploading this podcast, she remains awake in hospital and it’s unclear what went wrong with the attempted execution.
We hear the details from BBC reporters in the US, who have been covering this story including Brandon Drenon, Kayla Epstein and Nada Tawfik.
Not long after Pike’s recovery, the US Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth, announced that an execution by firing squad in Fort Hood, Texas will be livestreamed to the public for the first time. The man on death row is Nidal Hasan, a former US Army major and he shot dead 13 unarmed US soldiers in 2009.
What does this all mean for the future of the death penalty in the US?
Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: Chelsea Coates and Benita Barden Editor: Emily Horler