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Lawyer of death row inmate Christa Pike believes one photo could save her life before execution
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Christa Gail Pike's lawyers have made one final attempt to save the inmate from the death penalty, which they have repeatedly tried to avoid.
The death row inmate has spent three decades behind bars, but she is now set to be put to death on September 30 in Tennessee.
Pike has challenged the method being used, the lethal injection, with her legal team arguing that her blood condition, thrombocytosis, will cause unconstitutional suffering.
The judge did not agree, stating that her condition would not get in the way of an IV, while she is expected to lose consciousness within 20 to 30 seconds after receiving the lethal dose.
She is still the only woman on death row in Tennessee, after being convicted of the horrific murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.
Pike's lawyers' final attempt to avoid lethal injection
She had become jealous over her boyfriend at the time, Tadaryl Shipp, 17, as she thought Slemmer was interested in him.
Pike murdered her classmate with a box cutter, a cleaver, and a piece of asphalt in an extremely disturbing crime, which included cutting her throat and carving satanic symbols onto her body, while keeping a fragment of her skull.
The convict, who was just 18, was sentenced to death after being found guilty of the crime, which took place in a wooded area near the University of Tennessee’s agricultural campus.
Now, her lawyers have claimed that a 'beautiful' childhood photo of Pike could spare her life, two weeks from her execution date.
A judge described the crime as a 'brutal' and 'horrific' murder, as Pike was seen sobbing at the time of her sentencing in March 1996, with her execution initially set for January 12, 1997, via electrocution.
But nearly 30 years later, a final execution date has now been set, despite lawyers appealing for her sentence to be commuted, due to her suffering physical and sexual abuse as a child at the hands of her grandmother's boyfriend.
Pike's lawyer, Randall J.Spivey, filed a petition to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, who can stop Pike from being executed, writing about the abuses she suffered and sending over a photo of her taken before the alleged incidents.
It reads: “There is a picture of Christa as a child that I often think about,
“She is outside, her curly red hair is slightly blown by the wind. She has big brown eyes, and her mouth is drawn tight in a straight line.
“I think about this picture for two reasons. First, it is a beautiful picture not unlike the pictures I have of my own daughter at the same age. I am sure you have similar pictures of your daughters," the legal expert said.
Significance of the photo
“Second, I think of this picture because I know that it was taken about the time Christa was first sexually abused," Spivey said.
They added: "To me, this picture represents a devastatingly sad turning point, where the chaos that surrounded Christa began to leave marks on her that were too much to overcome.”
Experts at the UN and Amnesty International are standing with Pike, saying in a statement: “Pike’s execution would mark the culmination of a trajectory of severe physical and psychological suffering marked by childhood abuse and nearly three decades of solitary confinement on death row."
Justin Mazzola, the Deputy Director of Research at the latter, explained: “She endured profound abuse and trauma as a child and had serious mental disabilities that were never adequately addressed nor treated.
“Due to inadequate legal representation, these issues were not fully presented to the jury. Knowing all that, it is unthinkable that Governor Lee would even consider moving forward with this execution.”
Governor Lee granted clemency to 34 people at the end of August, including a man convicted of murder, but chose not to grant it for Pike.