After Christa Pike Survives Execution in Tennessee, Rep. Chris Rabb and Advocates Call for Movement on Bill to End Pa.’s Death Penalty

October 2, 2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Andy Hoover, andy@hoovercomms.com, 717-256-1293

HARRISBURG, Pa. - After a Tennessee death row prisoner survived execution this week, opponents of the death penalty in Pennsylvania renewed their call for the General Assembly to pass legislation that would end capital punishment in the commonwealth.

On Wednesday night, Tennessee officials injected Christa Pike twice with drugs to carry out her death sentence, but Pike survived. It’s been described as unprecedented by experts.

The following can be attributed to Pennsylvania state Rep. Chris Rabb, the primary sponsor of House Bill 99, which would repeal the death penalty:

“The horrific, botched execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee is yet another example of the fact that the death penalty is irredeemable and unfixable. As lawmakers, we have a responsibility to look reality in the face and recognize that this isn’t working. The state tortured Christa Pike. And it tortures a person from the moment that a prosecutor declares that their intent is to have them killed by the government. My legislation, HB 99, should be brought up for an immediate vote in the state House so that we can end this tragedy for good.”

The following can be attributed to Frances Harvey, executive director of the Atlantic Center for Capital Representation:

“The botched execution of Christa Pike is a confronting example of how our death penalty system has failed. But it fails long before the execution chamber. Death sentences are not reserved for the ‘worst of the worst’, but the worst off. People like Christa, with histories of serious mental illness, childhood trauma and abuse, and poverty; people that have been failed repeatedly before ever entering a courtroom. Practitioners know it’s not working, our courts and legislature know it’s not working, and the public knows it’s not working–death sentences have taken a steep drop in Pennsylvania. Capital punishment should end in the commonwealth, in Tennessee, and throughout the United States.”

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