“Medicine should heal, relieve suffering, and preserve life.” These are the words of Bishop J. Mark Spalding of Nashville following the failed attempt to execute Christa Pike, 50, the only woman on Tennessee’s death row. On Wednesday, September 30, at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, within the territory of his diocese, two doses of pentobarbital failed to kill the inmate, who had been convicted of the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. The following day, Governor Bill Lee suspended executions for the rest of the year and ordered an independent investigation. The bishop, who together with the bishops of Memphis and Knoxville had asked Lee to spare her life, reaffirms his opposition to capital punishment without forgetting the victim’s family.
(Photo Diocese of Nashville)
Bishop Spalding, what was your first reaction to what happened at Riverbend?
Reports of problems with yet another Tennessee execution are shocking, but not surprising, given the state’s longstanding struggles with its execution procedures. The lack of transparency leaves serious questions unanswered about the training of those carrying out complex medical procedures and the reliability of the drugs used to end a human life. Withholding this information also limits condemned prisoners’ ability to challenge those procedures and seek meaningful review through their legal representatives.
What alternative do you propose?
These concerns call for more than another revision of execution protocols. Medicine should heal, relieve suffering, and preserve life.
Tennessee should choose a different path: life imprisonment without parole, which holds those convicted of the most heinous crimes accountable and protects society without taking another life.
This approach recognizes the profound suffering of victims’ families and their need for lasting support and justice.
Does the case of Christa Pike strengthen the Church’s conviction that the death penalty must be abandoned altogether?
The bishops of Nashville, Memphis, and Knoxville, working together through the Tennessee Catholic Conference, have maintained a strong and respectful relationship with Governor Bill Lee throughout his eight years in office. Throughout that time, drawing on the teachings of the last four popes, we have consistently opposed the death penalty and appealed against each execution.
Can any method of execution really be considered “humane” when the state deliberately takes a human life?
The search for a humane method of execution offers false hope, compounded by the state’s secrecy surrounding capital punishment.
(Photo SIR)
The murder of Colleen Slemmer was horrific. How can the dignity of the condemned be defended while fully respecting the suffering and rights of victims and their families?
Defending that dignity does not diminish the gravity of the crime or excuse the person responsible. We pray for the repose of the soul of Colleen Slemmer and that her family and friends find the healing and consolation that only God can provide.
What is this position grounded in?
Our teaching is clear that human dignity is God-given and cannot be lost, even through terrible wrongdoing.
Our opposition to the death penalty is rooted in the same conviction that leads us to mourn Colleen’s death: every human life is sacred.
What do you now expect from Tennessee’s institutions?
For roughly the past 15 years, Tennessee prosecutors have sought and obtained death sentences far less frequently than in earlier decades. We remain firm in our conviction that the state should replace the death penalty with life imprisonment without parole, an option already available under Tennessee law. The recurring failures surrounding executions should move the public and lawmakers to choose a different path. We hope this reflection will lead to a change of heart and a permanent end to the death penalty.