A Failed Execution and the Future of the Death Penalty

Episode Overview

• This episode of The Daily (produced by The New York Times with no commercial sponsors or external funding disclosed) examines why a small cohort of states—most notably Florida and Tennessee—are aggressively accelerating executions just as American public support for the death penalty has dropped to historic lows.
• Host Rachel Abrams and guest Pamela Coloff (a criminal justice reporter since the 1990s and author of the recently published book Catch the Devil) frame the discussion around the recent case of Tennessee inmate Christa Pike, who survived two doses of a lethal injection drug and regained consciousness in a Nashville hospital.
• The narrative traces the trajectory of capital punishment from the 1980s and 1990s "tough on crime" surge—when Gallup polling showed 80% support in 1994—through its steep decline driven by falling violent crime rates, high prosecution costs, and over 200 DNA and death row exonerations.
• The episode explores the modern political resurgence of the death penalty spearheaded by President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, alongside the logistical and ethical collapse of lethal injection protocols that is pushing states back toward the electric chair and firing squads.

Key Concepts

• The Collapse of the "Medicalized" Execution: Lethal injection was developed in Oklahoma in 1977 and first used in Texas in 1982 (to execute Charlie Brooks) to sanitize executions and make them look like a quiet medical procedure—something Coloff witnessed firsthand in Texas in 1998, noting it looked like watching someone go to sleep. Today, because pharmaceutical companies block their drugs from being used in executions and the American Medical Association (AMA) states physicians should not participate, states rely on non-medical personnel using stockpiled, expired, or compounded drugs of uncertain quality. In Tennessee, this resulted in two botched executions in just a few months (one in May and Christa Pike's recent survival of two lethal injection doses), prompting the governor to pause executions for the rest of the year.
• The Rise and Erosion of Public Support: In the 1980s and early 1990s, when violent crime was more than twice today's rate (touching nearly 5 million households in 1980), public support for capital punishment peaked at 80% in 1994, and executions peaked in 1999 with 98 nationwide (35 in Texas alone). Support subsequently eroded to what Coloff notes is currently "just above 50%" due to three main factors: violent crime dropping by roughly half by 2012–2013, the millions of dollars required for each capital prosecution draining county budgets, and the advent of DNA testing.
• The Impact of Exonerations: Since the early 1970s, over 200 people have been exonerated from death row (including Kirk Bloodsworth, William "Bill" Dillon after 27 years, and Earl Ruffin after 21 years). In 2000, Illinois Governor George Ryan instituted a moratorium after a Chicago Tribune investigation exposed systemic flaws, including 13 innocent men on the state's death row, and the federal government began an unofficial moratorium in 2003 (which Coloff notes "seems like" it was taking a cue from the states).
• Political Resurgence Under Trump and DeSantis: After 17 years with zero federal executions, President Trump restarted them in July 2020, carrying out 13 in the final six months of his first term. On January 20, 2025, Trump signed an executive order titled "Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety," directing the Attorney General and state DAs to pursue death sentences aggressively and challenge Supreme Court limits. Following suit, Florida executed 19 men in 2025 (40% of all U.S. executions that year, with a 20th warrant signed) and has executed more men in 2026 than all other states combined.
• Florida's "Black Box" Process and Legal Lowering of the Bar: Despite holding the national record with 30 death row exonerees, Florida expanded death penalty eligibility and lowered jury requirements so just 8 out of 12 jurors can recommend death. Unlike states where judges set dates and allow 90 days or more for litigation, Gov. DeSantis has sole authority to sign death warrants with "zero transparency" (leading one victim's family to mail him customized Sharpies to successfully lobby for a warrant) and gives inmates only a 30-day window before execution.
• The Deceptive Role of Paralytic Drugs: Coloff notes that while the exact quality and expiration status of Florida's drug supply are unknown due to the state's "black box" secrecy, Florida's executions appear smoother than Tennessee's partly because Florida uses a paralytic drug. Unlike Christa Pike, who had no paralytic in her protocol and could move and articulate that her arm was burning, a prisoner given a paralytic is prevented from moving or speaking, masking any internal suffering from witnesses.
• The Paradox of Returning to Older Execution Methods: Because lethal injection is visibly failing, states are turning back to firing squads and the electric chair (which likely next Tennessee Governor Marsha Blackburn recently proposed bringing back). While these older methods strip away the medical illusion, they force states to openly display the violence of capital punishment, leaving Coloff uncertain whether public horror will cause the death penalty to "peter out" or fuel a continued "resurgence" in outlier states.
• Siberian Lab News Brief: In a brief closing update, Abrams reports that Russian authorities claimed a researcher at a Siberian anti-plague institute who died of a mysterious pneumonia had been vaccinated against the pathogens she handled and that no "emergency situations" occurred at the lab, though the U.S. and World Health Organization (WHO) have requested more information.

Quotes

• At 0:41 - "The drug supposedly burns very bad. They use the word Drano, and the thought of suffocating and drowning on my own bodily fluids and blood, that sounds scary to me." - Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike speaking in a phone interview days before she survived two doses of lethal injection drugs.
• At 11:23 - "When I started as a reporter in the 90s reporting on the criminal justice system, if you suggested that there were innocent people on death row, you were considered a little fringe." - Pamela Coloff explaining how radically DNA testing and exonerations shifted public and journalistic understanding of the justice system's fallibility.
• At 12:16 - "We now have, since the early 1970s, over 200 death penalty exonerations. So that's over 200 people who received a death sentence, who went to death row, who now walk free." - Pamela Coloff quantifying the systemic errors that drove the decline in death sentences and executions across most of the country.
• At 20:55 - "He did so at such an extraordinary rate that last year 19 men were executed, that's 40% of the people who were executed in the U.S. last year, and this year so far, Florida has executed more men than all other states combined." - Pamela Coloff detailing the scale of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's acceleration of death warrants starting in 2025.
• At 27:28 - "One could argue that the electric chair or firing squads are more honest and more transparent about what is taking place, but states obviously take a risk when they carry out executions that way because it shows what they are doing in a way that a quiet act that is supposed to look like something medical does not." - Pamela Coloff analyzing the political and public perception risks states face as lethal injection failures push them back toward older execution methods.

Takeaways

• Look past the visual appearance of lethal injections: When evaluating reports of "smooth" versus "botched" executions, check whether the state's protocol includes a paralytic agent, as paralytics prevent inmates from moving or speaking and can conceal severe pain or drug failures from witnesses.
• Scrutinize state-level procedural guardrails in capital cases: Recognize that a surge in executions is often enabled by specific procedural changes—such as non-unanimous jury recommendations (like Florida's 8-of-12 rule), shortened post-warrant appeals windows (30 days versus 90 days), and unilateral executive warrant signing—especially in states with high historical exoneration rates.
• Monitor the shift in execution methods and its impact on public opinion: Watch how legislative proposals to reintroduce the electric chair and firing squads affect the broader debate, as abandoning the medicalized facade of lethal injection will test whether voters in outlier states will tolerate overt state violence when national support sits just above 50%.