U.S. Senator and Tennessee governor hopeful Marsha Blackburn is calling for the state to use the electric chair for executions. Her statement comes after current Republican Gov. Bill Lee ordered a third-party investigation into Wednesday’s botched lethal injection.
Christa Pike, slated to be the first woman executed in Tennessee in almost 200 years, is alive and in critical condition after receiving two full doses of pentobarbital.
Lee told reporters Thursday morning that the review will uncover what caused her botched execution, but it will be up to the state’s next governor to determine what to do with those findings.
Follow for updates: Tennessee’s botched execution of Christa Pike
Lee leaves office in January after reaching the state’s term limit for its highest position. He’s paused executions for the remainder of the year while the investigation moves forward. Blackburn, the frontrunner to replace him, has indicated her support for a thorough review of the process — and vowed to resume use of the electric chair, should she win in November.
“Bring back the electric chair and deliver justice for these victims swiftly. As your governor, I will do just that,” Blackburn posted on X on Thursday morning.
However, the electric chair has already been an option for death row inmates sentenced before 2000, including Pike, who was convicted of killing her 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer in 1996.
More than a decade ago, Tennessee lawmakers formally made the electric chair the backup means of execution. That method was used in 2018 when the state put Edmund Zagorski to death, as well as with David Earl Miller. Five people chose electrocution in 2018 and 2019.
The Democratic candidate for governor, Jerri Green, told WPLN’s daily show, This is Nashville, on Thursday that she would extend Lee’s moratorium.
“(The death penalty) does not deter people. It is incredibly expensive. There are so many problems with it,” Green said. “People should still be held accountable for their crimes, but they should be held accountable with life without parole.”
Pike’s botched execution marks the second this year, although Lee did not directly answer reporters’ questions about why he didn’t issue a moratorium after complications with Tony Carruthers earlier this year.
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