The botched execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee has reopened the fight over whether states should be allowed to put people to death, and critics say the failures are routine rather than rare.

• Criminal defense attorney Beth Bordon says lethal injection is the most frequently botched execution method, and states count an execution as a success as long as the person eventually dies.
• The drug mix starts with a sedative, then a paralytic that hides suffering, then a drug that stops the heart and causes burning pain through the nerves.
• Prison staff, not doctors, often insert the needles in states like Florida, leading to missed veins and chemical burns.
• 27 states still have the death penalty, and some do not require a unanimous jury — Alabama allows a 10-2 verdict and judges can decide split cases in Missouri and Indiana.
• Florida has exonerated 30 death row prisoners, which undercuts the claim that safeguards protect the innocent, and the death penalty costs more than life in prison because of endless appeals.

Outlook: Expect more legal challenges arguing lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment, with pressure building on states that allow non-unanimous death sentences.