Tennessee to Execute Woman, First Time in Over 200 Years in the State
· Telemundo McAllen (KTLM)
Just days before her execution, the only woman on death row in Tennessee says she is ready to die, although she feels 'nervous' about how the state plans to carry it out. Before learning on Monday that Governor Bill Lee would not intervene in her case, Christa Pike wrote in a letter to NBC News—shared by her spiritual advisor—'Whether I am granted clemency or not, I am at peace.' 'I am not afraid to die,' wrote Pike, who has been on death row for over three decades. 'It’s just the process that makes me nervous.' Tennessee is set to execute the 50-year-old Pike this Wednesday by lethal injection; it will be the first time in over 200 years that the state has executed a woman, according to historical records. In 1995, when she was 18, Pike—according to Knoxville police—acted with two teenage accomplices to torture, stab, and beat to death 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Authorities say Pike and the others lured Slemmer—her classmate in the Job Corps training program—to an abandoned steam plant near the University of Tennessee, where they attacked her.
AI summary · Source: Telemundo McAllen (KTLM) →
