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The first woman set to be executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years has asked for her death sentence to be served in a very particular way.
Christa Pike, 50, was just 18 when she was sentenced to spend the rest of her life on death row after she tortured and killed fellow student Collen Slemmer, 19, with the help of her boyfriend in 1995.
More than 30 years later, her execution date is just two days away, as she is due to receive the lethal injection on September 30.
As the fateful day fast approaches, Christa has requested that her final punishment be given to her in a very particular way.
The murderer has requested an all-female execution crew administer her lethal injection, citing past sexual abuse as the reason she does not want any men involved in her final moments.
The mother of Christa’s victim, May Martinez, has spoken out about the request, saying that her daughter’s perpetrator doesn’t deserve it. She told the Daily Mail: “I don’t think she should be allowed to have any special treatments.
“She didn’t consider how my daughter felt — she’s just playing the system … It’s all bullcrap.”
Regardless of the impending injection, Christa’s lawyers are making one last desperate attempt to spare her life by asking Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to grant her clemency and offer her sentence to life without parole.
The legal team cites Pike’s childhood trauma involving sexual and physical abuse, neglect, and domestic violence, which was never addressed by prosecutors during her initial trial three decades ago.
Filed earlier this month, the 226-page clemency petition claims Christa was sexually abused between the ages of two and five. It also noted that she was allegedly raped by a 37-year-old neighbor who received a suspended sentence when she was just 11.
Christa also claims that at 17, she was dragged into the woods and raped by a stranger while on her way to a shop. Attorneys claim the attacker was never identified.
Shortly after being sentenced to death, the teenager was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and PTSD.
Christa’s longstanding legal team argues that excluding details about her past abuse stopped jurors from fully understanding that they were prosecuting a troubled teenager, not a heinous villain.
In the new petition, her attorneys wrote: “Christa was broken, not evil.
“She was broken by a mental health system, juvenile system, and a criminal justice system that ignored, misdiagnosed, and mistreated her at every turn.”
