US3 min(s) read
A number of experts and anti-death penalty campaigners are making a last-ditch attempt to prevent the execution of Tennessee death row inmate Christa Gail Pike, who is scheduled to be executed on September 30.
The Tennessee Supreme Court has rejected Pike's latest request to halt the execution, clearing the way for the state to proceed with its plans for her to receive the lethal injection, making her the first woman to be executed in the state in over 200 years.
Pike had challenged Tennessee's lethal injection procedure, arguing that her medical condition and psychological history could make the execution unconstitutional.
Her lawyers pointed to her diagnosis of thrombocytosis, a condition involving an unusually high number of platelets, and argued that proceeding could breach the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on “cruel and unusual punishment”.
Pike also argued that aspects of the execution process could cause severe psychological distress because of sexual abuse she experienced during childhood and her diagnoses of PTSD and bipolar disorder.
Among her concerns were being restrained to a gurney, being observed by male prison employees and potentially having an intravenous line inserted near her chest or groin.
However, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled against her challenge, finding that Pike had not demonstrated that her medical condition meant the planned execution would violate the Constitution.
However, the state has agreed to several measures intended to accommodate Pike's concerns, granting her request that female correctional officers will transport her to Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, while prison officials will attempt to ensure that only female staff observe her.
A privacy screen will also be provided while she showers or uses the bathroom, with Pike additionally being permitted to meet with a spiritual adviser during the 12 hours before her scheduled execution, with the adviser potentially allowed inside the execution chamber.
Her legal team has said it intends to ask the US Supreme Court to intervene, while at the same time, Pike's lawyers continue to petition Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute her death sentence to life imprisonment without parole.
Pike, now 50, is the only woman currently on Tennessee's death row after she was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, who was a fellow student at the Knoxville Job Corps Center.
Pike, who was just 18 when Slemmer was killed, lured Slemmer to an isolated location, where she was beaten, stabbed, and disfigured.
While Pike was the only person involved in the case to receive a death sentence, her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, who was 17 at the time and therefore could not receive the death penalty, was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Pike's lawyers have argued that her background should be taken into account when considering her sentence, claiming she experienced sexual abuse, rape and neglect during childhood before later being diagnosed with bipolar disorder and PTSD.
Pike was also subsequently convicted of attempted first-degree murder following a 2001 attack on another prisoner, according to court records.
With the September 30 date approaching, Pike's lawyers are continuing their legal challenge while seeking clemency from Governor Lee, with the execution currently set to go ahead as planned.
