'Accidents happen': What the Supreme Court has said about survivors of botched executions

The remarkable survival of Christa Pike after an attempted execution in Tennessee poses equally remarkable legal questions about whether a second state attempt to kill her would violate the Constitution. snip At the time, it was the only known U.S. case of a condemned person surviving an attempted execution. Francis, who at age 16 had been convicted of murdering a former employer, challenged a second electrocution by arguing it would violate 14th Amendment due process rights, a 5th Amendment prohibition on multiple punishments, and amount to cruel and unusual punishment under the 8th Amendment. Attorneys for Christa Pike could likely...