Report: Female death row inmate asks for all-woman firing squad
A Tennessee death row inmate convicted of the brutal murder of her classmate has asked to be executed by an all-female firing squad.
Christa Pike received the death sentence when she was 18 for torturing and murdering fellow Knoxville Job Corps student Colleen Slemmer, 18, in 1995.
Slemmer was stabbed and beaten by Pike and her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, on the University of Tennessee’s Agricultural campus.
The two carved a pentagram into Slemmer’s chest, and Pike took a piece of her skull as a souvenir, according to investigators.
Shipp, who was 17 at the time of the killing, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole due to his age.
Pike, now 50, is set to be the first woman executed in the state in over 200 years on September 30.
She is ‘terrified’ of dying a ‘painful’ death by lethal injection and has instead asked to be shot by an all-woman firing squad in front of witnesses, including members of Slemmer’s family, the New York Post reported.
Her lawyers claim death by lethal injection will be ‘prolonged and agonizing’ because she has a rare blood disorder that could make it difficult to find a vein and affect how she reacts to the drug.
In August, Pike asked the court to consider allowing her to be hanged, WATE reported.
Her legal team also requested that her execution be handled by an all-female team because she has trauma from men.
‘[Lethal injection administered by men] will increase the likelihood that an 8th Amendment violation will occur,’ Pike’s lawyer Stephen Ferrell said.
‘There is an increased risk of pain and suffering.’
Pike was the victim of sexual abuse and neglect as a child, according to her lawyers. They also claim that she suffered from bipolar and post-traumatic stress disorders that were not diagnosed until years after her arrest.
The prosecution shut down Pike’s argument, claiming she has not shown any scientific evidence to support her request.
‘It was Ms Pike’s burden to come forth with scientific evidence. She has completely failed to do that,’ the prosecutor said in August.
Her lawyers previously asked the Tennessee Supreme Court to commute her sentence because of her age and ‘severe mental illness at the time of her crime.’
However, the court denied her appeal, and Pike’s lawyers have asked Governor Bill Lee for clemency.
The Tennessee Department of Corrections told the Daily Mail on Thursday that Pike’s method of execution will be lethal injection and that she has not selected a final meal.
Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, previously told the Daily Mail that she will be sitting in the front row to watch Pike’s execution.
Investigators determined that Pike targeted Slemmer after she innocently waved at Pike’s boyfriend, and she became convinced her classmate was trying to steal him away.
She began smearing Slemmer’s name, calling her a ‘[expletive]’ and spreading vicious rumors through the dorms, warning her to stay away from Shipp, or else.
‘That little whore has to be taught a lesson,’ she told Shipp in January 1995, according to court records.
On January 12, 1995, Pike lured Slemmer to an abandoned steam mill and brutally murdered her.
Pike was tried in March 1996. The jury swiftly convicted her and sentenced her to death.
She also received a secondary conviction in 2004 for trying to strangle a fellow inmate during a prison fight, which added 25 years to her sentence.
–
Original Article: Report: Female death row inmate asks for all-woman firing squad
About Post Author
