(WKYT) – A botched execution in Tennessee is raising new questions about whether capital punishment will resume in Kentucky.
Christa Pike’s execution did not work Wednesday. Pike was convicted and sentenced to death for a 1995 murder in Knoxville. She would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in 200 years. Her case has drawn controversy over mental illness questions and because she was 18 when the crime was committed.
Kentucky has not had an execution in almost 18 years.
Reaction in Kentucky
Because of the botched execution in Tennessee, some in Kentucky say the death penalty needs to be abolished.
“We think that Governor Beshear should definitely take the maximum action he can, we want him to commute all 24 people off the row. We see what can happen when there is an appetite for execution,” said Russell Allen of the Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.
David Dalton prosecutes cases in Pulaski, Rockcastle and Lincoln counties and has presided over death penalty eligible cases. He said one botched execution doesn’t mean the whole system needs to be thrown out.
“Since 2025 there have been over 70 death penalties carried out correctly in this country, so while this was unfortunate it should not be an indictment on the entire process,” Dalton said.
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Legal history in Kentucky
Most of the legal wrangling in Kentucky began in 2010, when Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd halted all executions. There have been numerous questions over the chemicals used in lethal injection, the availability of them, and other issues regarding mental illness and disabilities.
Much of that stems from lawsuits filed by Ralph Baze, who was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1992 murders of a sheriff and deputy in Powell County.
“I think it’s a warning to us, that we have the opportunity to be this type of headline, to avoid having this type of stain on our state,” Allen said.
“Again, it’s hard to explain to a victim how the legislature says there’s a death penalty, but the reality since 2010 there hasn’t been a death penalty in this state,” Dalton said.
Dalton said the injunction is now 16 years old and needs to be sorted out.
There are currently 24 inmates listed as being on death row in the Kentucky Department of Corrections.