Return to Transcripts main page
One World with Zain Asher
Spanish P.M. Calls Snap Election Amid Growing Housing Protests; CNN Analysis: 10 Senate Seats Face Potential Flip; Trump Heads To Nebraska To Bolster GOP Support; U.S. Marine Arrested In Japan Accused Of Murder Robbery; FBI: Suspected Chinese Spy Arrested At Los Angeles Airport; Christa Pike Still Unconscious After Surviving Lethal Injection; Aired 12- 1p ET
Aired October 05, 2026 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:00:28]
ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Coming to you live from New York, I'm Zain Asher.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Bianna Golodryga. The second hour of "One World" starts right now.
From Spain to Brazil and here in the United States, people are making their voices heard. These elections could lead to major changes or send the old
guard back into office.
ASHER: Also ahead, a Marine in custody, a nationwide anger, why this man is at the center of outrage across Japan.
GOLODRYGA: And later, what's it like to win the Nobel Prize? We'll tell you here from one of this year's first recipients.
Well, we're about four weeks out from the U.S. midterm elections. The global economy is suffering and the political scene worldwide reflects that
voters are thirsting for change.
ASHER: Yes. Spain's prime minister has called for a November snap election following weeks of nationwide protests over the country's housing crisis.
Anger sparked after an elderly woman was evicted from her home and parliament failed to pass housing reforms last week.
Brazil is headed to a run-of-presidential election after a surprise victory from right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro. It is a stark choice between him
and progressive President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The campaigns have been dominated by concerns over cost of living, crime, security and
corruption.
GOLODRYGA: And in the U.S., the battleground map for democratic Senate seats is growing. CNN's list of states likely to flip expands to 10,
including Kansas. It has not sent a Democrat to the Senate in 94 years. And Republicans are now feeling the heat.
First, let's start abroad though, let's go to CNN's Pau Mosquera in Madrid. Quite a risky move by the prime minister who feels that perhaps, perhaps he
has some momentum behind him after a conservative Congress and Parliament did not pass housing provisions and law that he had hoped to enact to
address the concerns from those protesting behind you about the growing prices in the housing market.
Just talk about the impact of these early elections.
PAU MOSQUERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's it, Zain and Bianna. It's not really clear yet who this move is going to benefit Pedro Sanchez. Some
analysts that I've been speaking with, over the morning, told me that what he's trying to do is capitalize the discontent that we have seen taking to
the streets over the past few days, very same discontent that you can see here an image behind of me with those hundreds and hundreds of tents that
are occupying Central Madrid, specifically Central Puerta del Sol.
The general understanding is that Pedro Sanchez wants to turn this anger expressed on the streets into an opportunity, but as I was saying, it is
still not clear how exactly will he benefit from this, because if we pay attention to the latest polls that, for example, have been conducted by the
Center for Sociological Research, it seems like Socialist Party, it would come first in terms of votes, but they would not have enough power as to
guarantee another term in government.
Instead, it would be the opposition, this is the popular party in box, who would -- who would get more votes as to try to get the key to the Moncloa
Palace. So, it's still yet to see what is going to happen.
But from the demonstrator's side, they told me that they are going to keep the pressure on the streets, that they will keep protesting and maintaining
the encampment here, Downtown Madrid, as to force the lawmakers to continue working on finding solutions on the housing crisis.
So, that said, Zain and Bianna, it is more that this move made by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, it's less about securing a victory, but more about
trying to limit the damage that he could get over the next few months. Zain, Bianna.
ASHER: All right. Let's get (INAUDIBLE) Cecilia Dominguez in Buenos Aires for more on Brazil's elections.
In terms of the first round, Cecilia, I mean, think a lot of people were surprised that Lula came behind, but he does have another opportunity here
in terms of what we're going to see on October 25th.
How much of a tall order is it for him to emerge victorious, just given the fact that some of the smaller parties that sort of siphoned off some of the
votes are right leaning? And also, 20 percent of voters in Brazil actually stayed at home.
[12:05:12]
Just -- just walk us through what he needs to do to sort of emerge victorious here.
CECILIA DOMINGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What you say is very important. Zain, Bianna, how are you? Brazil is heading to a runoff election in -- in 20
days. And -- and what this election really showed is how close and divided Brazil remains.
Flavio Bolsonaro, from the Liberal Party, came in first this Sunday. And in the end, the final difference between Bolsonaro and Lula was just under two
percent.
And now with 20 days until the runoff, both candidates have to look beyond the voters who already supported them and find where they can pick up new
votes.
For Lula, that means trying to close the gap. And for Flavio Bolsonaro, it means protecting the lead he already has and trying to make it bigger.
And there are two groups of voters that could be especially important here. And one is the voters who backed the -- the candidates who were eliminated.
Together, they accounted for 7.8 percent of the valid votes. And most of those candidates came from the center right and the right as you said. So,
the question now is, who they will support and where those voters will go?
And the other factor, and it's very important, is turnout. More than 21 percent of voters stayed home on Sunday. So, in a race this close, getting
those voters back to the polls could also make a -- a difference.
And -- and all of this is happening in a deeply polarized Brazil. As many experts say, this election is really about two very different versions,
visions, and versions also, for the country and -- and in some ways for -- for Latin America as a whole.
The Bolsonaro movement is still very strong, even without Jair Bolsonaro on the ballot. Flavio, his son, was able to -- to expand that support beyond
his traditional base. He did better than his father did in 2022, especially in the South, in the center-west and in the southeast. He won Sao Paulo and
Minas Gerais, which was especially significant.
And overall, he got almost four points more than his father got in the first round four years ago in 2022.
And for Lula, that result is a warning sign. He needs to turn his record in government into enough support for another term. And he has work to do in
some key areas. Minas Gerais was especially important. He got 43 percent there, this time, compared with 80 -- 48 percent in the first round of
2022. And -- and even in the northeast, his strongest region, he didn't get the advantage his campaign had been expecting.
So, that's what we'll be watching over these next 20 days. And -- and we'll find out on October 25th when more than 158 million voters go back to the
polls, this time to choose between Bolsonaro and Lula.
ASHER: All right. Cecilia Dominguez, thank you for that. Appreciate it.
GOLODRYGA: Well, President Trump is hitting the campaign trail in Nebraska, kicking off another leg of his 32-day midterm blitz in deep red states.
ASHER: Yes. The push comes as Republicans see warning signs as Democrats gain ground in places long considered safe.
For the first time this year, CNN now lists 10 Senate seats as potential flips, including Kansas, a GOP stronghold for nearly a century. It's so
hard to concentrate while I'm reading, seeing that. Arlette Saenz reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, nearly four weeks out from the election, the Senate battleground map is expanding as Democrats have seen
some improving signs in several red-leaning states.
We have been ranking the state's seats most likely to flip for several months now. And now for the first time, we've actually expanded this list
from nine to 10 as a very red Kansas has really come on board in a very real way.
There's also significant movement in this list compared to other lists as you have a red-leaning states like Ohio, Alaska, and Texas all moving up in
their positions.
But to start with Kansas there, that is a state that no one really ever thought would be on the battleground map heading into November. But the
democratic candidate, Adam Hamilton, a pastor in the state, has really made this an incredibly competitive race against the incumbent GOP Senator Roger
Marshall. "The New York Times" polling released over the weekend showed that this is a statistical tie.
It's also worth noting that that the Senate Leadership Fund, one of the biggest Republican super PACs, is actually spending money in this race.
They said on Friday that they would be sending seven figures worth of television advertisements in this final stretch, perhaps signaling some of
the Republican concern about a state like that.
[12:10:13]
Then I also want to note Ohio, Alaska, and Texas. Ohio now ranks as our second state most likely to flip.
"The New York Times" poll released over the weekend showed Democrat, former Senator Sherrod Brown and the incumbent senator right now, John Husted,
really running neck and neck, but other polling has shown Brown ahead in this race.
And Brown has really made a big issue of data centers in this campaign, something that the GOP even acknowledges can be an anchor on Husted's
campaign.
You're also seeing movement in the Alaska race. And then down in Texas where Democrat James Talarico has really mounted a much stronger campaign
than many had anticipated. That "New York Times" poll had him up several points over Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. And we've all heard about
the Republican rescue mission that is underway in that state, sending millions there to the state.
But just to note on the landscape here, Democrats are feeling very good about the mood and the environment. President Trump's approval rating is
low. There's a lot of voter frustration with the economy and his handling of the war in Iran, but they still have to win in very deep red states.
Republicans are betting on their voters turning out. And Republicans are also set to outspend Democrats in eight of these 10 competitive races.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: All right. Joining us now from Grand Island, Nebraska, where the president will soon be heading is Aaron Sanderford. He's the managing
editor for news at the Omaha World-Herald. Aaron, thanks so much for joining us.
I see it's quite fitting that I believe you're at a gas station there. That's likely one of the top issues for consumers, for voters throughout
the country, but especially in states that Nebraska. I mean, you look at President Trump, he won Nebraska by 20 points, and yet, he feels he needs
to be out there campaigning.
What's making Pete Ricketts so vulnerable right now, aside from those prices behind you?
AARON SANDERFORD, MANAGING EDITOR FOR NEWS, OMAHA WORLD-HERALD: There's just a -- a lot of mood right now in farm country and in much of Nebraska
and kind of in the spine of -- of kind of the prairie populist background states like Kansas, Nebraska, even probably over in Iowa, that there --
there's a sense that the economy is not performing the way that they want it to.
And there's a lot of anger, especially when you see $6 diesel with people who are trying to figure out at harvest time how to make this work, how to
make the economics work, how to make their family budgets work.
And -- and Ricketts is in the middle of a mood that is very anti-incumbent, which you're seeing all over the country. But here in Nebraska, it's rare
because this is a two-term governor running for reelection to the Senate after having won a special election to finish out Ben Sasse's term, who is
not used to having much of a -- of a fight on his hands, at least not in the general election.
But Dan Osborn, a registered nonpartisan, former Omaha union leader, is mounting a real fight. And it's something different here that we haven't
seen in a minute, but the same spillover is happening in our governor's race.
ASHER: And -- and, obviously, the economic issues are affecting the races across the country. But there are some issues that are a bit more Nebraska
specific, including this idea of importing foreign beef. Obviously, Nebraska is an agricultural state. A lot of, like, ranchers are not happy
with this idea of this sort of policy of importing, in their words, low- quality, cheaper foreign beef.
Just explain to us how that is a factor here too.
SANDERFORD: Yes. In a place like Nebraska where cattle -- other than Texas, there's really no other state in the country that produces more beef. And
what you're going to see is a lot of negative reaction.
They -- ranchers have gone through a lot of lean years. And when prices are high, it's not great necessarily at the grocery store, but that's often
when those ranchers recoup their money and their investment in those years, if they actually see the impact.
You've seen both Ricketts and Osborn talk about the Stockyards Act because Osborn made it a pretty big issue in the race and enforcing that. And --
and to have Trump make the decision, the president make the decision to import international beef, feels to some of those ranchers like a little
bit of a betrayal.
But the president has argued that he's trying to handle two things simultaneously. He's obviously talked with ad groups in places like
Nebraska and tried to reassure them that he's not after their chance to recoup their investments, but he's kind of balancing consumer needs and
rancher needs. And in a place like Nebraska, you know, beef is king.
[12:15:08]
GOLODRYGA: Aaron, your paper released audio of Dan Osborn saying that some Trump supporter's lives, quote, probably suck. Is that damaging to pitch to
those voters? Or does his explanation actually speak more directly, perhaps to some of the frustrations they're feeling now, especially along economic
lines?
SANDERFORD: You know, that's a really good question. Obviously, the Ricketts team thinks it makes a big difference because they're advertising
and hammering on that message. And I wouldn't be surprised at all to see President Trump today make that very clear in an audience like Grand
Island, which is in the third congressional district in Nebraska, which is its most conservative, one of the most conservative in the country and its
most rural.
What you're likely to hear is listen to how they talk about you. It's the same thing that they're saying in the ads.
It does resonate with some, but Osborn, in the last week, has held a town hall in Red Cloud, Nebraska, where that recording had him talking about
some -- some Trump supporters from that area in a mythical way or in a hypothetical way.
But, you know, he went there, he heard from people who were not very happy about it. Some people didn't think it was enough. Some lawmakers, some
Republican officials, some local officials put out a letter criticizing him for those comments as belittling to rural folks.
But I mean obviously both candidates in this race have had controversies in recent days. You've had the same thing with Senator Ricketts facing
criticism over a pardon that he issued when he was governor.
So, I mean, it is a hot race. And for the first time as a general election candidate in -- in Ricketts' career, he's facing legitimate pushback.
ASHER: So, when Trump's -- when Trump sort of continually says, pretend I'm on the ballot, does that help or hurt in Nebraska?
SANDERFORD: It depends. I mean, I've seen good polling where the president is still above water in Nebraska. And I've seen good polling that shows him
slightly under. This is obviously a state where he has carried it statewide all the time, but there are pockets in this state where the president is
tremendously unpopular.
The second congressional district where my paper is located in Omaha area has voted for Democrats for president, both Kamala Harris and Joe Biden,
while voting for the president in 2016.
It is a place that is mixed. You know, urban and suburban areas, like most states have revolted a little bit.
What you're seeing now is because of the ag prices and pressures, you're starting to see a little bit of the old spine of Nebraska where they used
to have kind of an independent streak come out. Kansas has always had that streak. Nebraska has always had that streak where a lot of people will
argue that it's a Republican state.
Historically, it's had democratic representation. It's just a much more populist streak. You have to kind of fit the culture of the state, but
those who can, can wake something up that's old.
GOLODRYGA: Aaron, while we have you, quickly, can you just give us the current price for a gallon of diesel and gasoline behind you?
SANDERFORD: Yes, diesel is $6.29. And regular unleaded is at $4.40, which is really rare to see $6 diesel in this state.
GOLODRYGA: Yes, I would imagine. All right. Thank you so much, Aaron. Really appreciate your analysis.
ASHER: Thank you.
SANDERFORD: All right.
ASHER: All right. Still to come on "One World," the U.S. Vice President is weighing in on unusual removal of U.S. bombers. Details ahead on the
terrorism concerns at a key British air base.
GOLODRYGA: Plus, a disturbing case in Japan leads to the arrest of a U.S. Marine. We'll have more on the growing tensions happening in Okinawa.
ASHER: Also, an alleged spy was almost out of the U.S. when agents swooped in to arrest her. Find out who they say she was spying on and who she was
allegedly working for.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:20:58]
ASHER: All right. A U.S. Marine has been arrested in Japan on suspicion of murder and robbery.
GOLODRYGA: He's being held in custody after a 39-year-old woman's body was found in a hotel room in Okinawa. Local police say she died after being
strangled. The case is the latest in a string of criminal allegations against U.S. military personnel in the prefecture.
Hanako Montgomery reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're getting more details now about a gruesome murder in Okinawa. Police have arrested a suspect, 20-year-old
Lance Corporal Devin Jacob Ballard, a U.S. Marine stationed in the prefecture. He was arrested on Sunday on suspicion of killing 39-year-old,
Anna Yagi. Police say Anna was found collapsed inside a hotel room in the early hours of Saturday. And that she died from strangulation.
They're also investigating the case as a possible robbery, given that some of Anna's belongings were taken from the room and later found discarded
nearby.
Investigators have also told us that security camera footage shows a man believed to be a foreign national with a shaved head entering the hotel
room with Anna and later leaving with her belongings.
Now, Ballard, the suspect, has denied the allegations, according to the police. And the investigation is ongoing.
Now, separately, both the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Embassy in Japan have expressed their condolences, with the embassy also adding that the
U.S. is cooperating with Japanese authorities over this investigation.
Now, this case has stirred up a lot of anger in Japan, where the Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, has lodged a rare protest against the United
States. She's also called for the, quote, fullest possible cooperation with the investigation, thorough discipline among U.S. military personnel and
measures to prevent the recurrence of crimes and accidents.
And for people in Okinawa, this stirs up painful memories of 2016 when similarly a woman in Okinawa was murdered. Now, this victim was also raped
and later a former U.S. Marine was arrested and sentenced to life in prison for those crimes.
And many in Okinawa point to the fact that they shoulder what they call an unfair burden, that a majority of U.S. military bases in Japan are
stationed in Okinawa. And they argue that, therefore, there are more violent crimes involving U.S. military personnel in the prefecture.
So, this case has added to these longstanding issues, longstanding friction between military bases belonging to the United States and Okinawans.
It's also added to the frustration that many locals feel over a number of issues involving sex crimes and U.S. military personnel. And they're also
calling for greater accountability over the murder of Anna Yagi.
Hanako Montgomery, CNN, Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[12:25:04]
ASHER: An unexpected trip across the Atlantic. The U.S. military has removed all of its long-range bombers out of the Royal Air Force Base at
Fairford. U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance says the move is, out -- out of an abundance of caution comes just days after the British government arrested
six men and released them.
GOLODRYGA: An investigation is underway into an alleged Iranian plot targeting the base. Earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio weighed
in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We have confidence in the security of all of our bases, because all of our bases theoretically could be
threatened at any moment and that's why there's so much security built around them.
And with the Brits we've worked very closely for a very long time, including on this investigation, and they couldn't be more cooperative.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: A senior NATO military official said that the alliance's defensive agility remains unchanged. Meantime, Iran claims accusations that
it was involved in any plot are baseless.
ASHER: A California woman will face a judge today after being accused of spying for China.
GOLODRYGA: The FBI released these photos of Heather Zhang, who they say spied on the Taiwanese president's son and his family. The 34-year-old
allegedly gathered information and took photos of the family, all in the direction of Chinese officials.
CNN's Robbie Hawken has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBBIE HAWKEN, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): A 34-year-old California woman has been arrested on suspicion of spying for China, federal officials said.
The FBI arrested Wanying Zhang, also known as Heather, and charged her with acting as an unregistered agent for China and allegedly surveilling the
Taiwanese president's son and family.
The FBI posted on X alleging that Zhang filmed their home and vehicles. They added that she was arrested whilst trying to board a flight to
Shanghai from LAX. Video shows a woman being escorted through the airport in handcuffs.
U.S. attorney Bill Essayli identified Heather Zhang. You don't get to conduct foreign intelligence operations on American soil and simply hop on
a plane home, the FBI posted. Zhang and a person referred to as Individual One, flew from Las Vegas to Seattle on September the 1st, 2025 and went to
the home of Taiwan President Lai Ching-te's son, the FBI said in the complaint.
China's ruling Chinese Communist Party views Taiwan as part of its territory, despite having never controlled it and has long vowed to unify
the island with the Chinese mainland by force if necessary.
Lai has long faced Beijing's wrath for championing the sovereignty of Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy of around 24 million people. It's unclear
whether Zhang has an attorney.
CNN reached out to the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the Chinese Embassy for more details.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: All right. Still to come on "One World," she was set to become the first woman to be executed in Tennessee in 200 years, but an attempt to
kill her by lethal injection failed. The shocking story of Christa Pike, ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:30:58]
ASHER: All right. A Tennessee death row inmate is now intubated on a ventilator and remains unconscious in hospital after surviving a botched
attempt to execute her by lethal injection.
GOLODRYGA: Yes, the case of Christa Pike, one of the youngest women sent to death row, is sparking backlash. Witnesses say she was snoring and appeared
to be alive after two doses of a drug cocktail. Pike's lawyers say they had warned the court beforehand that her vein issues could make it difficult to
successfully carry out the lethal injection.
ASHER: And Pike has served more than 30 years in prison. In 1995, the 18- year-old and her then-boyfriend were convicted for the killing of Pike's classmate. This is the second botched execution attempt in Tennessee in
less than five months.
Pike's attorneys are calling for Tennessee's governor to commute her sentence, her death sentence. One of them spoke to CNN's Jake Tapper on
Sunday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN FERRELL, CHRISTA PIKE'S ATTORNEY: Nothing that anyone can do will bring back Colleen Slemmer. Nothing that anyone can do will make this right
for May Martinez, her mother.
I can't give any better solution than the fact that Christa has been, and may very well continue to be, severely punished.
I don't think that attempting another execution is going to bring justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: CNN's Jenn Sullivan takes a look at Christa Pike's case and how it has renewed debate about the death penalty in the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JENN SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The woman who survived a failed execution in Tennessee last week is still in the hospital. Lawyers
for 50-year-old Christa Pike say she's currently on a ventilator and unconscious.
FERRELL: We don't know what the prognosis is. She may not fully recover, and there may be issues about her competence.
SULLIVAN (voice-over): Pike was 18 years old when she killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1995. She was sentenced to
death. She was scheduled to be executed last Wednesday. She was injected with two doses of the lethal drug pentobarbital, but she survived.
FERRELL: We don't know what drugs there were, whether manufactured, compounded, how well they were preserved, what was done with them.
SULLIVAN (voice-over): Pike's failed execution has renewed debate about how these procedures are carried out.
JUSTIN JONES, FORMER DIRECTOR, OKLAHOMA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION: You have basically a medical procedure with the advent of lethal injection for
executions, but then you have some non-medical staff, and then you have staff that have medical training, but they're not the level of medical
staff that you would see in a hospital doing a procedure.
SULLIVAN (voice-over): A recent poll, conducted over the summer, found 66 percent of Americans support the death penalty for people convicted of
murder.
At a rally in Ohio, Saturday night, President Donald Trump called to expand the death penalty.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And we will pass the death penalty for large-scale drug dealers, human traffickers, and anyone who
ever kills a police officer or law enforcement official.
SULLIVAN (voice-over): The governor of Tennessee has suspended all new executions for the rest of the year and announced a third-party will
investigate Pike's failed execution.
I'm Jenn Sullivan reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: All right. Time now for The Exchange. Let's bring in Bryan Stevenson, the founder and executive director of Equal Justice Initiative.
He's a widely acclaimed public interest lawyer whose book, "Just Mercy," has been, of course, made into a major motion picture. Bryan, thank you so
much for being with us. I know that you are very passionate and you have some very strong opinions on this particular case.
As we're reporting there, this is not the first time Tennessee has botched and a sort of attempt at executing someone. It's happened before and it's
happened in other states, quite frankly.
Especially because the lawyers for Christa Pike did actually warn that this thing -- this kind of thing was possible because there could be trouble
accessing her vein. So, it wasn't as if nobody was warned that this outcome could be probable or likely.
[12:35:06]
Obviously, this has renewed calls to abort the death penalty. Just give us your thoughts and your take, especially in terms of where the state should
go from here.
BRYAN STEVENSON, FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: Well, I -- I do think that the threshold question of the death penalty has
always been not whether people should deserve to die for the crimes they've committed, but whether we deserve to kill when we have a system and we have
procedures that are so unfair and unreliable.
How we execute people in this country has been the subject of litigation for almost two decades for a long time. We executed people with the
electric chair, and that was a pretty brutal and torturous process. There were cases where people caught on fire during the execution. There were
cases where people didn't fully die because the electrodes weren't plugged in correctly.
Then we moved to lethal injection. And as you point out, there have been a number of executions through this method that have been botched, where
people didn't die. We had one in Alabama where they poked in Kenneth Smith for almost two hours and never succeeded in accessing his veins.
I took a case to the U.S. Supreme Court, David Nelson, Nelson versus Nagle, 20 years ago, where we talked about how there are many people on death row
and in prisons with histories of drug abuse or other medical conditions that make accessing their veins in this way very challenging. That's what
happened. In Christa Pike's case, the lawyers did warn them that that method would not work.
So, I think this question of whether we should be killing people at all is intensifying now because we have failed to make the death penalty anything
other than a distraction from, you know, the real question of how we improve public safety, the real question of how we create a system that is
fair and just.
And -- and I think those questions are coming to the fore. We have had several states abolish the death penalty in the last 10 years. California
has a moratorium on executions. That's about 20 percent of the people sentenced to death in the United States. Pennsylvania also has a
moratorium.
And the death sentencing rate in America has dropped dramatically. I think our country has moved away from thinking that we have to kill people to
show that killing is wrong.
What's lagging behind are elected leaders in some of the states that still are kind of tied to the politics of fear and anger that made the death
penalty popular, you know, 30 or 40 years ago.
GOLODRYGA: Bryan, it's good to see you again. Your organization says that the jury never heard the full account of Pike's childhood abuse and trauma.
How do you explain why that evidence matters in terms of punishment and sentencing without diminishing the horrors of the crime that was committed
against her roommate?
STEVENSON: Well, the way we set up the death penalty in this country is that the state can present the aggravating evidence, all of the evidence of
the horrors of the crime, the suffering of the victims and all of those things.
But the jury and the sentencing must also consider mitigating evidence. And that mitigating evidence oftentimes doesn't excuse the crime, doesn't
legitimate the crime, but it changes the way we think about what's appropriate punishment.
A woman who has been subjected to horrific violence over a long period of time by an abusive spouse may resort to violence. And that won't justify
that act of violence, but it will mitigate what kind of sentence is appropriate.
What the lawyers are trying to present in this case is that Christa Pike had been subjected to just horrific sexual violence and abuse from a very
young age. Year after year, she was subjected to men and boys who abused her, who raped her, who traumatized her. She was only 18 when this crime
took place.
And if you don't have a full presentation of that history, you can't make an informed decision, a fair decision, about whether she's the worst of the
worst. You can't just look at the crime to answer that question. You have to look at the big picture.
And we've all seen really tragic, horrific crimes. But when we looked at the full picture, we didn't decide that that was a case where the death
penalty was appropriate.
It doesn't diminish the severity of the crime, the horror of the crime, but it does change our sense of what's fair, what's just. I've represented a
lot of young children who have committed terrible crimes, but their age and their culpability and their character means that we shouldn't execute them.
We've got people who are intellectually disabled, people who are severely mentally ill. We've now banned the -- the death penalty for people with
intellectual disability because we realize that we can't call them the worst of the worst. That's what the lawyers are trying to get the courts to
consider before this execution.
And, of course, the Sixth Circuit, Federal Court of Appeals, issued a stay so that that evidence could be more fully considered. The U.S. Supreme
Court is the court that vacated that stay, which then led to this tragic botched execution last Wednesday.
ASHER: Bryan, quickly, what would you say, though, to Colleen Slemmer's family members who see the execution of Christa Pike as a form of justice?
Because, you know, just to sort of recap to out -- for our audience who may not have been following the story, it was in the mid-90s when Christa Pike
allegedly sort of lured one of her classmates to a secluded, wooded area and tortured her and murdered her, accusing her of trying to sort of make a
move on her boyfriend. Her boyfriend was also involved in the murder as well, but because he was 17, he was sentenced to life in prison. Because
she was 18, she got the death penalty.
[12:40:38]
For the family members who, by the way, watched the attempted execution, you know, and -- and desperately, from their perspective, just playing
devil's advocate, wanted a sense of justice for them, what would you say to them?
STEVENSON: Well, would say we should wrap our arms around you. We should support the victims and survivors of violent crime in every way possible.
We should provide them economic support, psychological support, emotional support, but we should redefine what justice requires.
If she lived in a state where there was no death penalty, this case would have been completed, resolved decades ago. If she lived in a country where
there is no death penalty.
The death penalty, in my view, does not offer people justice, it -- in this country, subjects people to a long and torturous process. We can do a lot
of things for the victims of violent crime and the survivors.
And as I said, we should offer them everything we can. We just cannot offer them blood for blood. We just cannot offer them a life out of anger or out
of retribution or out of revenge, because that doesn't really advance justice. It just advances this idea that if we take another life, somehow
we'll feel better. I think that's a misguided idea.
We don't offer the victims of rape that we will rape the victim -- the person who committed that crime, because that would be unconscionable. We
don't offer torture to people who've been tortured.
And I don't think we should offer death to those who have killed. I think we can be better than the offenders. And we can stand with victims and
support them wholeheartedly despite that.
My grandfather was murdered when I was 16 years old. We wanted all kinds of things, but mostly what we wanted was support and acknowledgement and a
commitment to improving public safety, which the death penalty does not do.
ASHER: I'm sorry to hear about your grandfather, but Bryan Stevenson, we have to leave it there. Thank you. Thank you for coming on the show to talk
about this.
GOLODRYGA: And finally, the Nobel Prize in medicine has been awarded to three scientists whose work has transformed our understanding of the brain.
ASHER: Yes, the three were honored for their work developing optogenetics, it's a revolutionary technique that uses light to control and study nerve
cells, helping researchers explore the neural circuits that govern memory, emotion, and behavior.
GOLODRYGA: The Prize in medicine kicks off this year's Nobel Announcements. Awards for physics, chemistry, literature, peace, and economics are still
to come.
All right. That does it for "One World" today. I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ASHER: I'm Zain Asher. Appreciate you watching. Bianna will be back in 15 minutes for "Amanpour." Stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(AFRICAN VOICES)
END
