Botched Tennessee Execution Draws Scrutiny of Lethal Injection Drugs
The Wall Street Journal 10-03-26
States often pay cash for drugs to use in executions, making it harder to trace the supply chain, said Deborah Denno, a Fordham University law professor who has studied lethal injection for 33 years. Corrections departments may buy them from compounders, or even each other.
This article was picked up by MSN.
Legal expert on failed Christa Pike execution
CBS News 10-01-26
Following Wednesday night’s unsuccessful lethal injection attempt in Tennessee, Christa Pike remains hospitalized. Fordham Law School professor Deborah Denno appeared on “The Daily Report” to analyze potential legal paths forward.
‘Rich hippies’ versus big oil. Supreme Court hears landmark climate change case
USA TODAY 10-03-26
Fordham Law professor Adam Orford discusses the legal implications of a Supreme Court case examining whether local governments can sue oil companies for climate-related damages.
“It is just one of those very important, fundamental precepts in the U.S. legal system that if someone hurts you, you should be able to bring them into court and at least ask them to compensate you for the harm,” Orford said.
This article was picked up by MSN, The Wichita Eagle, The Sacramento Bee, The Charlotte Observer and others.
Democrats’ Blue Wave Could Miss New York
Newsweek 10-07-26
Boris Heersink, a political science professor at Fordham University, told Newsweek that if Trump’s 2024 coalition lasted in New York, it could “produce an environment where a particularly appealing Republican could do well” in the state. But he also said that does not “seem to be the most likely outcome.”
This story was picked up by Yahoo News, MSN.
Erasing race data erases evidence of discrimination | Opinion
NJ.com(The Star Ledger) 10-04-26
Fordham Law professor Tanya Katerí Hernández examines how proposed changes to federal racial data collection could affect efforts to identify and address discrimination and disparities.
This article was picked up by Yahoo News.
Court approves preservation of all evidence in Pike’s failed execution after attorneys claim ‘cruel and unusual punishment’
Associated Press | Local 3 News 10-07-26
In addition to questions about competency — whether Pike can understand why she would be put to death — Pike has strong arguments that it would be cruel and unusual for the state to try again to execute her, said Deborah Denno, a Fordham Law professor who has studied execution methods for 36 years. It could also violate the prohibition on double jeopardy, trying or punishing someone twice for the same offense, Denno said.
This article was picked up by MedPage Today, WQOW, Las Vegas Review, WDHN, Anchorage Daily News and more.
World Service News Hour
BBC Radio10-07-26
I’m joined now by Deborah Denno, who is founding director, neuroscience and law center at Fordham University in New York… “We do have a concept. It’s called double jeopardy. You’re not supposed to get the same punishment twice”
This article was picked up by WGLT, KCFR, tv overmind.
Christa Pike conscious after failed execution
BBC News 10-07-26
Fordham Law Professor Deborah Denno: “Will Tennessee attempt to proceed with the penalty? Her legal team is actively seeking to have her sentence commuted, yet state officials will probably attempt another execution. Should that occur, multiple legal pathways could unfold.
Trump approved the military’s 1st firing squad execution since WWII. Why now?
NPR WBGO 10-07-26
“On the one hand, it is one of our earliest forms of execution,” said Fordham Law School professor Deborah Denno, who has been studying execution methods for 36 years. “On the other hand, it’s always been controversial because people associate it with extreme barbarity and … the Wild West.”
This article was picked up by Texas Public Radio.
Mom of Christa Pike murder victim breaks silence after horrifying botched execution
The Mirror US 10-07-26
It’s unclear if the state will try to execute Pike again, but a legal expert said she would have to be mentally competent to understand the punishment. “She can’t be executed if she is brain-injured and doesn’t understand the proceedings,” Professor Deborah Denno of the Fordham School of Law told the New York Post.”
This article was picked up by AOL and Total News Agency.
Morning in America
FOX KHMT 10-07-26
The founding director of the neuroscience and law center at Fordham Law School Deborah Denno, thanks for joining us: “I think there’s going to be some statement about her physical and mental condition and then again, probably a request that the governor commute her sentence.”
Over a dozen states ban this kind of sports wager — except when they don’t
The Sentinel 10-06-26
“Operating within the daily fantasy sports framework offers distinct legal benefits compared to traditional sports gambling,” noted Marc Edelman, a sports law professor at Baruch College and Fordham University. “However, I contend that several platforms marketing themselves as daily fantasy sports are, in reality, no such thing.”
Christa Pike remains hospitalized and may not fully recover after botched Tennessee execution, attorney says
Puplastic 10-05-26
According to legal commentators, a subsequent execution attempt seems improbable without her full recuperation. “If brain damage prevents her from comprehending the process, capital punishment cannot proceed,” noted Deborah Denno, a professor at Fordham Law School.
Reflecting on a 2019 U.S. Supreme Court decision concerning an individual with dementia, Deborah Denno emphasized that capital punishment requires the defendant to comprehend the penalty being imposed.
Supreme Court debates whether to toss climate change lawsuits against big oil
Modesto Bee 10-5-26
Fordham Law School Professor Adam Orford, an expert on environmental law, said many of the other justices were harder to read. For example, he said, Justice Amy Coney Barrett seemed to agree with the oil industry’s argument to some degree “but also expressed some openness to a more limited ruling.”
Christa Pike’s Failed Execution: A Hidden Crisis in Lethal Injection Drugs
Newsweek 10-03-26
Deficits in chemical supplies have severely disrupted domestic capital punishment procedures like never before, according to Fordham Law School professor Deborah Denno, an authority on lethal injections, in an interview with Newsweek.
This article was picked up by Yahoo News.
What Exactly Is a Lethal Injection and How Could the Failed Case Impact Executions?
NBC TODAY 10-03-26
“Tennessee must carefully evaluate their capital punishment procedures moving forward,” stated Deborah Denno, a criminologist who directs the Neuroscience and Law Center at Fordham Law School, during an interview with TODAY.com. “A focused investigation is necessary to determine what led to this failure and why adequate safeguards were missing.”
After surviving a lethal injection, could Christa Pike face execution again?
SBS News 10-02-26
Botched executions are not rare, but Pike’s hospitalisation was “unprecedented”, according to Deborah Denno, a legal expert in death penalty and lethal injection issues at New York’s Fordham University.” She’s the eighth person to have survived a lethal injection execution, but nobody had to be taken to the hospital,” she told SBS News.
Law Professor Bennett Capers Has a Manifesto on Afrofuturism and the Law
Our Time Press 10-02-26
Fordham Law professor Bennett Capers discusses how Afrofuturism can shape legal thinking and offer new perspectives on race, policing and the future of the law.“It seems to me that we should all be thinking—what do we want our world to look like?”
Christa Pike Felt Extreme Pain During Botched Execution, Death Penalty Expert Explains
TMZ 10-02-26
Deborah Denno, a longtime Fordham Law professor whose scholarship on capital punishment has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court, told TMZ that the objective of an execution is to ensure the prisoner does not experience pain, and said Tennessee failed to do so in Pike’s case.
What We Know About Tennessee’s Botched Execution of Christa Pike
PBS Newshour 10-01-26
“I have studied methods of execution for more than three decades,” said Deborah Denno, a professor at Fordham Law School. “Lethal injection has consistently maintained a remarkably high error rate, and conditions have only worsened over time.”Denno noted that this trajectory is evident in the growing number of individuals who survive execution attempts. While Christa Pike represents the eighth inmate to endure a failed procedure, Denno emphasized that no prior survivor has suffered such severe physical and psychological trauma.
Lethal Injections Are Getting Worse
The Atlantic 10-01-26
In a recent scholarly article addressing the escalating cruelty of death penalty methods, Fordham Law Professor Deborah Denno explains that problematic lethal injections persist due to the exact issues that have plagued the process since its introduction forty years ago, citing unqualified personnel, the use of agonizing chemical agents, and faulty procedural guidelines.
Tennessee Inmate in Critical Condition After Botched Execution
CNN 10-02-26
I’m joined now by Deborah Denno, a professor at Fordham University School of Law.
“Regrettably, this occurs repeatedly, and we have witnessed it on numerous occasions. Ever since lethal injection was introduced in 1982, complications akin to these have plagued the process. Though the circumstances surrounding Christa Pike were notably more extreme, unravelling the exact sequence of events remains difficult due to the pervasive secrecy surrounding execution protocols.”
Another ‘disturbing’ botched execution. Why does this keep happening?
USA Today 10-01-26
While several inmates have recently survived after executioners failed to access their veins, if Pike survived after receiving two doses of pentobarbital, it would be virtually unprecedented, according to Fordham University law professor Deborah Denno. Denno could recall just one other similar case: Florida teenager Willie Francis, who survived after being electrocuted in an electric chair in 1946.
