Tennessee Plans All-Female Lethal Injection Team at Request of State’s First Woman Being Executed in 200 Years

Tennessee is preparing an all-female lethal injection team for Christa Gail Pike, the state’s first female execution in over 200 years, at the request of her lawyers who cite decades of sexual abuse and PTSD. Pike’s legal team is petitioning for her sentence to be commuted to life without parole, highlighting her history of abuse and diagnoses of bipolar disorder and PTSD. The victim’s mother, May Martinez, opposes any special treatment for Pike, calling her clemency bid and claims of system failure ‘bullcrap.’

• Tennessee plans to use an all-female team for the lethal injection of Christa Gail Pike.
• Pike’s lawyers requested this arrangement due to her history of sexual abuse and PTSD.
• Pike is the only woman on Tennessee’s death row and is scheduled for execution on Wednesday.
• Her legal team argues for commutation to life without parole, citing jury ignorance of her childhood rape and trauma.
• Pike was convicted of the 1995 murder and mutilation of Colleen Slemmer.
• The victim’s mother, May Martinez, opposes Pike’s clemency bid.