L’chaim’s Statement on the Torture and Botched Execution of Christa Pike ​

The thousands of members of “L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty” from across the United States, Israel, and the world wholeheartedly condemn Tennessee’s torture and botched execution of our longtime pen pal Christa Pike, during our Sukkot holiday of all times.​

Tennessee knowingly used the same physician to administer Christa’s lethal injection, even though he botched the previous execution of our pen pal Tony Carruthers earlier this year. That physician gave Christa not one, but two doses of pentobarbital, which, as expected, proved ineffective in killing her, instead resulting in her being carted off to a hospital for – paradoxically – “life-saving measures.” Christa no doubt endured much more than cruel and unusual physical torture during this nearly hour-long botch. This, of course, was in addition to the psychological torture to which she was subjected by last-minute rescinding and reinstatement of her execution by various U.S. courts. Christa’s unfathomable plight is a chilling reminder that the death penalty often results in physical torture, and always is psychological torture for individuals counting down to their execution day.

Defenders of this torture have since indicated that they felt it was appropriate given the fact that Christa had tortured her victim before brutally killing her. It is absolutely true that Christa, herself a victim of abuse, transferred that abuse brutally onto 18-year-old Colleen Anne Slemmer, whom she heinously murdered more than thirty years ago when Christa was 19. This was no doubt Christa’s worst moment. Yet, like any of us, Christa was also capable of change, and over the decades she demonstrated that by expressing her undying remorse for her monstrous actions. Despite detractors’ claim that she has not expressed remorse, Christa’s clemency packet blatantly disproves this assertion. In that press release, Christa responded to the prompt of “Think back to the worst mistake you made as a reckless teenager.” by stating: “…mine happened to be huge, unforgettable, and ruined countless lives. I was a mentally ill 18-year-old kid. … I took the life of someone’s child, sister, friend. It sickens me now to think I could commit such a crime.” Those who would seek to punish her for what she did at that lowest point by torturing her only seek to perpetuate further the cycle of violence and killing to which she herself succumbed when she took the precious, irreplaceable life of Colleen Anne Slemmer, of blessed memory.

There is no human way to execute a human being

In the Jewish world, proponents of the death penalty in Israel would do well to heed the lessons of this display in Tennessee this Sukkot. Some of those advocates have argued that there are no relevant lessons here, since Israel will be employing hanging rather than lethal injection. Human rights experts agree, however, that execution by hanging can cause torturous and extreme physical and mental suffering that amounts to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. In the “short drop” version of hanging, the condemned drops a short distance. This method causes death slowly by suffocation and strangulation, which leads to intense physical pain. For the more preferred “long drop”, the executioner calculates the drop height based on the person’s weight. The goal is to snap the neck quickly and cause immediate unconsciousness. Still, if the rope is too short or the drop is miscalculated, the person may suffocate slowly instead of dying instantly. Errors can and have led to prolonged agony, airway trauma, or even accidental decapitation. Finally, even with a proper long drop, it can take several minutes for the heart to stop beating entirely. Organizations like Amnesty International state that methods carrying a high risk of severe physical agony violate basic human dignity and cross the line into cruel punishment.

Furthermore, no matter the method of execution, psychological torture always accompanies execution. We at L’chaim have witnessed this with former pen pals who have attempted suicide in the days leading up to their executions in response to the stress that they were experiencing while counting down their final days. There is indeed no humane way to execute human beings against their will. This includes hanging, as well as the many execution methods that are direct Nazi legacies, including firing squad, gassing, and lethal injection.

One is reminded of the sage counsel of another European novelist, Albert Camus, who penned the following in his Reflections on the Guillotine: “But what then is capital punishment but the most premeditated of murders, to which no criminal’s deed, however calculated it may be, can be compared? For there to be equivalence, the death penalty would have to punish a criminal who had warned his victim of the date at which he would inflict a horrible death on him and who, from that moment onward, had confined him at his mercy for months. Such a monster is not encountered in private life.”

Famed death penalty abolitionist Elie Wiesel encapsulated L’chaim’s stance on executions when he said of capital punishment that – in the shadow of the Holocaust – “death should never be the answer in a civilized society.” Proponents of vengeance who support the new death penalty laws in Israel should heed Wiesel’s message – and condemn any form of execution. They should recognize, together with the well over seventy percent of global nations that have abolished the death penalty, along with all of civilized humanity, that there is no place for capital punishment in the twenty-first century.

May the abiding neshama/spirit of Colleen Anne Slemmer be a loving guide for all who were privileged to know her in this world.

May her loved ones be comforted among all the mourners of Zion and the world.

May no more blood be spilled in her sacred name.

May all the killings end.

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Cantor Michael J. Zoosman, MSM

Jewish Prison Chaplain

Co-Founder: L’chaim: Jews Against the Death Penalty

Advisory Committee Member: Death Penalty Action