This is Christa's last night: Tennessee executes a woman for the first time in 200 years

The state of Tennessee in the US is set to execute Christa Pike, the first woman to be executed in the state in 200 years. Pike was sentenced to death for the murder of her friend Colleen Slemmer in 1995, when she was 18. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee rejected her clemency request this week, despite her defense's claims of untreated mental illness and a history of sexual abuse. The execution by lethal injection is scheduled for the night between Wednesday and Thursday.

The state of Tennessee in the US is finalizing preparations for the execution of Christa Pike, the first woman to be executed in the state in 200 years. Pike, now 50, was sentenced to death for the murder of her school friend Colleen Slemmer on January 12, 1995, when she was 18. Pike and her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp lured Slemmer to a remote corner of the University of Tennessee campus, where they tortured and brutally murdered her. Pike cut her with a Japanese knife and hit her with an asphalt block, and Shipp carved a pentagram into her body. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee rejected Pike's clemency request this week. Her defense argued that she suffered from bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder due to a childhood of severe neglect and sexual abuse, and that the death penalty was excessive given her young age at the time of the crime. Her boyfriend, who was 17, was sentenced to life in prison. The victim's family demands the execution be carried out. Pike's lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court in a last-ditch effort to stop the execution, arguing that being strapped to a gurney would cause her severe psychological distress. Pike requested that the execution team consist only of women.