On September 30th, the first woman to be executed in Tennessee since 1819 will die by lethal injection, unless a reprieve is granted by TN Governor Bill Lee.
Less than a week away from her execution, 50 year-old Christa Pike has made the request that, if her lawyers are unsuccessful in obtaining said reprieve or changing her sentence to life in prison without possibility of parole, she would at least like an all-female death squad to administer her lethal injection (as she suffers from PTSD due to abuse from men as a young girl).
Pike was initially sentenced to death in 1996 at the age of 18 for the brutal torture and murder of fellow Knoxville Job Corps student, Colleen Slemmer, with 25 years added to her sentence in 2004 when she tried to strangle a fellow inmate during a prison fight.
Pike’s attorneys are asking for clemency based on her age at the time of the crime, along with her history of mental illness due to severe childhood trauma.
No word has come from the Tennessee Governor’s Office at this time.
