Christa Pike’s failed execution could trigger a new saga of court challenges, as the state of Tennessee goes into crisis control.

A reporter asked Trump in Dallas on Thursday, local time, whether, in light of the Pike situation, he was going to consider any changes to capital punishment.

“Well that was an interesting situation, but you’re going to have to speak to Tennessee about it,” the US president replied.

“Whether or not they’re going to go forward... You know what that was about, that was an execution where the medication didn’t exactly work.”

“How does that happen?” Trump continued, gesturing to Representative Ronny Jackson, a physician who once served as his personal doctor.

“I don’t know how that happened; it should be easy to do,” said Mr Jackson.

“It shouldn’t be very difficult,” Trump replied.

His comments came as Pike remained alive after a horrifically botched lethal injection in Tennessee, with her lawyers confirming she is in “critical condition” and receiving lifesaving treatment at an off-site hospital.

The lethal injection of Christa Pike (right) went catastrophically wrong. Twelve hours on, questions are mounting.

Attorney Randy Spivey said Pike’s 50-year-old body bears blistering and burning around the injection site, after medical staff struggled for more than an hour on Wednesday night to administer the fatal dose, jabbing her with at least seven needles — one of which came out bent.

Witnesses described Pike’s right arm turning purple and the condemned woman repeatedly trying to help staff locate usable veins, even thanking them when a line appeared to be established.

Despite two rounds of pentobarbital, Pike continued showing signs of life more than 40 minutes after the final dose, prompting officials to clear media witnesses from the chamber. Reporters who were present described her gasping, moaning, snoring loudly and lifting her head to look around, while she asked staff whether a burning sensation in her arm was “normal”.

The incident has been labelled the worst botched execution in modern US history by death penalty experts, with medical specialists warning Pike may have suffered brain damage due to delays in resuscitation. Tennessee’s Governor Bill Lee has ordered an independent review, while all remaining executions scheduled in the state this year have been cancelled.

Pike could be 'too sick' for second execution attempt

Christa Pike could be left too sick to face another execution after Tennessee’s failed lethal injection, according to a doctor who warned the procedure would go wrong.

Dr Joel Zivot, an Emory University anaesthesiologist and opponent of capital punishment, said her recovery could determine whether another attempt was possible.

“So if Christa Pike’s health should be such a thing that it can never be restored to some degree… then she may not face execution again,” he told The Sun.

He suspects the pentobarbital leaked into her arm tissue rather than reaching her bloodstream.

“She very likely has a significant burn on one or both arms from the pentobarbital that I expect went into the tissues and not into the circulation,” he said.

“She might have a weakened heart now.”

Zivot said the outcome had been foreseeable, and that Tennessee now has a responsibility to treat the same woman it tried to kill.

“I knew that they would happen. I called that they would happen and they happened,” he said.

“If the death penalty goes wrong, which it has done in this case, it becomes the duty of the state to restore the prisoner to health. So they’re bound to do it.”

Could Pike face another execution attempt?

Christa Pike could face another execution attempt if she survives, with a US lawyer outlining the potential court battles that lie ahead for the Tennessee killer.

“There’s certainly been cases throughout the US where it was tried more than once,” attorney Ken Turkel told Channel Nine’s Today.

He said Pike’s lawyers could challenge the lethal injection method as cruel and unusual punishment, while a civil lawsuit seeking compensation for her suffering was another possibility.

“Maybe she gets a reconsideration of the sentence because of this. I don’t really know,” he said.

Possible brain damage could also affect Pike’s eligibility for execution.

Brain injury alone would not automatically prevent another attempt. The constitutional test concerns whether a prisoner can rationally understand why the state intends to execute them.

It’s not yet clear whether Tennessee will seek another execution, with governor Bill Lee suspending all executions for the rest of the year while ordering a review of the incident.

'Bright red flag' in botched execution

Christa Pike reportedly tried to help execution staff find a vein as they repeatedly stabbed her arm with needles during Tennessee’s failed attempt to kill her.

Her lawyers said the execution team used at least seven needles on her left arm alone before establishing two intravenous lines. One needle appeared bent when removed.

“She over and over again said, ‘Please, try up on my shoulder higher, please try here, please try here,’” lawyer Randy Spivey said.

Pike even thanked staff when they believed the lines were working. She later complained of intense burning and said part of her arm felt ready to burst.

“The pain in her arm should have been a bright red flag that the IV was infiltrating,” Columbia University anaesthesiologist Dr Mark Heath said per the New York Times.

Experts suspect the pentobarbital leaked into surrounding tissue instead of entering Pike’s bloodstream, potentially causing chemical burns while failing to deliver a fatal dose.

“Essentially, they’ve injected bleach into the tissue of her arm,” Emory University professor Dr Joel Zivot said.

“You push a lot of a caustic substance into a small vein like that, under pressure, it’s going to blow.”

Pike’s lawyers said she remained in a critical condition receiving lifesaving treatment, with possible permanent brain damage among the concerns.

Tennessee’s corrections department insisted it “had followed every step of the state’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the attorney general’s office”.

Pike fail adds 'salt' to wound of victim's grieving family

Tennessee state politicians from both sides of the aisle have slammed the failed execution and said it extends the pain of Colleen Slemmer’s family.

Tennessee State Representative Jody Barrett called the failed execution “devastating” for Ms Slemmer’s relatives.

“All we’ve done is pick the scab off of their wound and pour salt in it,” Mr Barrett, a Republican, told The New York Times.

Senator and candidate for governor Marsha Blackburn, meanwhile, vowed to “bring back the electric chair” if she was elected.

“Christa Pike should have been executed long ago… While there should be a thorough review of what happened and why the process failed, the answer is simple: bring back the electric chair and deliver justice for these victims swiftly,” Ms Blackburn said.

The electric chair is still authorised as a backup or alternative execution method in Tennessee, though it is not the primary choice.

Ms Blackburn’s Democratic opponent for governor, Jerri Green, said the Pike process was “rushed” and the death penalty “has always been inhumane, expensive, and biased”.

“As a public defender, I’ve met a few too many people who were wrongfully convicted on death row who were later exonerated,” Ms Green said.

“As governor, I would put a moratorium on all future executions.”

Trump says execution ‘shouldn’t be very difficult’

Donald Trump has weighed in on Pike’s botched execution, reflecting that death by lethal injection “shouldn’t be very difficult”.

A reporter asked Trump in Dallas on Thursday local time whether, in light of the Pike situation, he was going to consider any changes to capital punishment.

“Well that was an interesting situation, but you’re going to have to speak to Tennessee about it,” the US president replied.

“Whether or not they’re going to go forward… You know what that was about, that was an execution where the medication didn’t exactly work.”

“He would answer it better than anybody, how does that happen?” Trump continued, gesturing to Representative Ronny Jackson, a physician who once served as his personal doctor.

“I don’t know how that happened; it should be easy to do,” said Mr Jackson.

“It shouldn’t be very difficult,” Trump replied.

Botched execution was Pike's 'worst nightmare'

An interview with Pike held weeks before her botched execution has resurfaced, highlighting the anxieties she had at the time about how the lethal injection could go wrong.

“The concerns I have on our lethal injection method are simply that I do not have good veins, and I’m worried about our physician not being qualified to start a central line on me,” Pike told her lawyers in a recording as she answered questions from The New York Times.

Pike said that Tony Carruthers, who recently survived a lethal injection attempt, had “lived out my worst nightmare, detail for detail, and I don’t want to go through that”.

“The drug supposedly burns very bad,” she continued.

“That sounds scary to me, because they use the word ‘Drano’ when speaking about this drug. And the thought of suffocating and drowning in my own bodily fluid and blood isn’t very appealing to me.”

Pike also said she was “very remorseful now” for the murder of her 19-year-old Job classmate, Colleen Slemmer in 1995, though she “wasn’t in the beginning”.

“I didn’t care what I had done or who I had done it to,” she reflected.

“The horror of the pain I caused her family, my family, my co-defendant’s family; I have affected this world in such a negative way when all I ever wanted to do was care for people and leave love.

“I have done the opposite of that, and that pains me.”

A majority of Americans still support the death penalty

About 66 per cent of Americans support the death penalty for people convicted of murder, according to a 2026 survey by the Pew Research Centre.

Republicans were overwhelmingly in favour, with Democrats more split in their opinions.

The result was about on par with the center’s findings on the issue in 2020.

Although 23 American states have abolished the death penalty, a handful of states continue to carry out executions.

Florida has executed 16 prisoners this year, while Texas has executed six.

Lawyer calls on governor to commute Pike's death sentence

Pike’s lawyer Randy Spivey is again calling on Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute her death sentence so that she can spend the remainder of her life in prison.

“Last night was not just inefficient. It was cruel and it was torturous,” Mr Spivey said on Thursday afternoon local time.

Governor Lee has stopped all remaining executions in the state and ordered an investigation into how Pike survived, but Mr Spivey said his order does not go far enough.

“(Pike) has endured punishment greater than any other person in the history of the American death penalty,” he said.

Governor Lee has previously denied her lawyers’ requests for a commuted sentence.

Pike is in 'critical condition', access denied - lawyer

A lawyer for Pike, Randy Spivey, said on Thursday afternoon local time that she was in a critical condition and he wasn’t allowed to see her in hospital.

“Christa is alive right now,” Mr Spivey said.

“We don’t have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment, but we do know that she is alive right now and receiving life-saving medical care.”

Mr Spivey said after Pike received the botched injections, medical staff had tried to start an IV line in her for more than an hour using at least seven needles, “one of which appeared to be bent when it was pulled from her arm”.

“The state continues its efforts despite the very complications that we had warned about in court months earlier,” he said.

“I did not get any information or confirmation that an ambulance was on its way until 8:50. I had no idea when and if medical professionals began to assist Christa.”

Victim's family says her soul 'cannot rest' until Pike executed

Raul Martinez, stepfather of Colleen Slemmer, who was killed by Pike in 1995, has shared an emotional message online.

“I’m sure by now everyone knows that the state of Tennessee has botched the execution of Christa Pike,” Mr Martinez wrote on social media, thanking the donors who had helped him travel to Nashville.

“Unfortunately Colleen’s soul cannot rest until this monster succumbs to the two doses of Pentobarbital that she was given,” he continued.

“This b**** will haunt Colleen’s heavenly journey until she’s been wiped off the face of the earth… Sorry for the blunt language… Right now I am not a happy camper.”

'None of that was normal': How horror unfolded

Teen killer Christa Pike is still alive more than 12 hours after two botched lethal injections in Tennessee, her lawyers have confirmed.

Her attorney Randy Spivey said in a press conference that Pike is in “critical condition” and being provided with “lifesaving” treatment.

There is blistering and burning around her wound, he added.

Pike, now 50, was strapped to a table in the execution chamber for more than an hour on Wednesday evening local time (Thursday morning) as medical staff jabbed her with at least seven needles — one of which was bent when it came out of her body, Mr Spivey told reporters.

“One of the things I noticed was her right arm turning purple, especially after the second round of chemicals were put into her body,” he said.

Media witnesses recount the moments before the execution of Christa Pike was halted Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Pike was heard asking if a burning sensation in her arm was normal and saying it felt like was “going to burst” as she was injected with two doses of pentobarbital in Nashville.

“Pike was not just cooperative, but was trying to help instruct the people placing the IV lines where they could find [veins]. She over and over again said, ‘Please try up on my shoulder higher. Please try here, I think it will be okay.’

“She thanked them when they were able to — or at least when they thought they were able to — establish a line [through which to administer the lethal drug pentobarbital].

“Ms. Pike was kind, and she was cooperative, and she was at peace the whole time.”

However, Pike was still exhibiting signs of life more than 40 minutes after the last dose, and media witnesses were asked to leave the area.

The injections — along with Pike’s years of solitary confinement and abuse in prison — made her suffering “greater than any other person in the history of the American death penalty,” Mr Spivey claimed, arguing that an “independent review does not go far enough.”

Among the witnesses to the failed execution was May Martinez, the mother of Pike’s 19-year-old murder victim Colleen Slemmer.

“I stood in front of that window and I watched her very, very carefully. I did not take my eyes off of her,” May told People.

“I wanted her to remember who Colleen was and what they’ve done and never forget that thought, no matter where she goes.

“We can’t get justice for my daughter.”

Speaking to NBC News, Ms Martinez delivered a message to Tennessee’s governor and attorney general.

“They f–ked up,” she said of the botched execution.

“It was a mess.”

Media witness WPLN reporter Catherine Sweeney speaks during a news conference at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution after the execution of Christa Pike was halted Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

The full extent of Pike’s injuries remains unknown. Her death sentence still stands but executions slated for this year in the state have been postponed following the “unprecedented” incident.

Dr Joel Zivot, a professor at the Emory University School of Medicine who has been retained as a medical expert by Pike’s legal team, has said that Pike may have sustained brain damage from the failed execution.

“It’s very possible that as a consequence of the delay of the beginning of resuscitation she will have a brain injury,” Dr Zivot told the BBC.

The state of Tennessee can seek another execution date, which will set up an extraordinary constitutional fight over whether forcing her through the procedure again would amount to cruel and unusual punishment.

Witnesses in the execution chamber said Pike could be heard gasping and moaning and was kicking her bedsheet.

Catherine Sweeney of WPLN described the horror inside the execution chamber at a press conference.

“They went through two rounds, and she was still breathing at the end, it was very ragged, she lifted her head up and was looking around at one point. She said there was a spot that was burning and hurting and asked if that was normal,” she said.

“None of that was normal.”

Other witnesses described how Pike’s mouth fell open a few times, and she began to loudly snore. “She gasped a few times,” one said.

Local TV producer John North said outside the facility in the aftermath: “We have a lot of questions about what we saw and what we did not see, because there were moments when the blinds were down for us, and there were moments when the blinds were up for us.

“It appears that this did not go like they thought it was supposed to go, but we don’t know that. When we left the building, so far as we knew, she was probably still alive — you just saw the emergency vehicles pull up. We don’t know her status … We have a lot of questions.”

Mr North described Pike as “still breathing” when the blinds went down for the final time, and “at times it appeared laboured, she was snoring at times, but she was still breathing”.

“We had to listen to all that from 8:05pm until we left the building with the blinds down. We could not see what was happening; we heard activity, but we don’t know what happened.”

Tennessee Department of Correction spokesman Dorinda Carter told reporters she wasn’t immediately able to explain what had happened.

Tori Gessner, a journalist at WKRN, told the Tennessean “nothing about today was normal, typical, at all.”

Gessner also said she heard Pike say: “My arm feels like it’s about to burst open.”

Robin Maher, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, described it as the worst botched execution in modern history.

“This event is the worst we’ve seen and unlike any other botched execution in the modern era,” Ms Maher told the New York Times.

“There is no precedent.”

She added that what Pike experienced is “singular and unparalleled”.

‘Her biggest fear’

Stephen Ferrell, an attorney with the Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee, said Pike’s history of sexual abuse likely made the ordeal even more horrific.

“Tennessee should not be torturing citizens in the name of justice,” he said

“That was her biggest fear as the victim of sexual abuse: that she would be pinned down, prodded, poked, cut.”

Mark Fowler, the physician involved in Tennessee’s failed attempt to execute Tony Carruthers in May, also oversaw Christa Pike’s lethal-injection procedure, according to local broadcaster WSMV4.

Dr Fowler tried unsuccessfully to establish a central line during Carruthers’ execution attempt and had confirmed before Pike’s scheduled execution that he would serve as its attending physician.

However, it has not been publicly established that Fowler personally injected Pike with pentobarbital. Media witnesses said curtains repeatedly blocked their view of the chamber, while WSMV4’s report states that Dr Fowler “oversaw” the procedure.

Governor Bill Lee added that he has ordered “a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred” with Pike’s execution.

All scheduled executions in Tennessee have been cancelled with none due to take place for the rest of the year, Mr Lee added.

Pike Lawyer's last statement

Pike’s team had previously argued that the lethal injection may cause a “prolonged and agonising” death because she has a rare blood disorder meaning the drug could take a long time to kill her.

Christa Pike’s lawyers shared a statement last night after the failed execution attempt.

“Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution,” the lawyers said.

“We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms Pike proved to be true: difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy.

“Christa is being treated at a nearby hospital,” they said. “We have not been informed as to her condition.”

Authorities ‘followed every step’

The Tennessee Department of Correction has said it followed correct procedures, standing by its actions during Pike’s attempted execution.

“The Tennessee Department of Correction followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney-General’s Office,“ department spokesperson Dorinda Carter said in a statement issued two hours after the attempted procedure.

“The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective, and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out this evening. Christa Pike has been transported to an off-site medical facility.

“Therefore, the remaining scheduled execution will not be carried out this year.”

‘This in an outrage’

Activists against the death penalty are out in force following the nightmare in Tennessee.

“The incompetence of the Tennessee (Department of Corrections) sets the bar at the lowest level tonight,” Abraham Bonowitz, co-Founder of Death Penalty Action, said in a statement.

“There are no other words. This is an outrage. How do they sleep at night?”

Laura Porter, executive director of the US Campaign to End the Death Penalty, said executions have to “stop now”.

“These pleas were ignored,” she said. “The state of Tennessee has shown the world it cannot be trusted to implement capital punishment in a way that preserves human dignity and the rule of law. This has to stop now.”

‘Abhorrent and cruel’: UN

The United Nations Human Rights Office also called to abolish the death penalty in a statement on X.

“The case of Christa Pike lays bare multiple reasons why the death penalty should be abolished,” the UN’s human rights chief wrote.

“The prolonged suffering — physical and mental — arising from multiple failed execution attempts is abhorrent, and cruel.

“And there are key fair trial questions still unresolved.”

Pike was sentenced to death for the grisly 1995 murder of a 19-year-old classmate. Her execution was dramatically halted with just one hour to go before she was due to be put to death, but the US Supreme Court intervened.

Pike was originally set to be executed in a Nashville prison at 10am on Wednesday, US time (12am. Thursday, AEST).

It was to be the first execution of a female death row inmate in Tennessee for 200 years.

But in an unexpected turn of events on Wednesday, a US federal appeals court ordered execution proceedings to be stopped.

Pike had already refused her last meal when the decision came through.

The judges declared they wanted to look into claims that Pike’s allegations that she suffered sexual abuse and rape as a child were not fully considered when she was sentenced.

“The interests of justice and the finality of Pike’s impending execution compel the entry of a short stay of execution in order to properly analyse the parties’ fully briefed arguments and resolve the issues on the merits,” the court said.

The state’s Attorney General, Jonathan Skrmetti dismissed the stay on a “technical issue” and said an appeal would be made to the US Supreme Court to “advocate for the lawfully-imposed sentence”.

The US Supreme Court then lifted the stay, clearing the way for the execution to go ahead.

‘I am not afraid to die’: Pike's crimes

Thirty years ago, Pike broke down in tears as Judge Mary Beth Leibowitz told her she would be executed.

It was March 30, 1996, when the then 20-year-old learned her fate and instantly turned to face

“Can I please hug my mum before I go?” she begged the court as tears streamed down her face, but she was not allowed.

This handout picture dated January 12, 2023 provided by the Tennessee Department of Correction shows convicted US murderer Christa Pike. Picture: AFP

In a letter to media Pike wrote in the days before her planned execution, she said: “I am not afraid to die, I’m only nervous about the process”.

The 50-year-old, who was 18 when she and boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp murdered Slemmer and carved a demonic symbol into her chest, requested an all-female execution squad in the days before her scheduled death.

“(Lethal injection administered by men) will increase the likelihood that an 8th amendment violation will occur,” Mr Ferrell said in reference to cruel and unusual punishment. “There is an increased risk of pain and suffering”.

Speaking as part of a documentary that aired in recent weeks titled: Dead Woman Walking: Christa Pike vs. Tennessee, the death row inmate explained the torment she was experiencing as the execution date neared.

“I’ve been in here for over 31 years. I know I said I believed a date would never be set (for my execution). But now that one has been set, it’s like a roulette wheel of thoughts and your actual brain is the ball bouncing around,” she said.

“My nerves are shredded. When I do sleep, my brain eats itself”.

Shipp, who was 17 at the time of the murder and avoided the death penalty because of his age, was “into Satanism and demonology” and responsible for the pentagram engraved on Slemmer’s body, Pike claimed.

“The media painted me as being an evil person, as being a devil worshipper. Tadaryl was into Satanism and demonology. That’s where that stems from,” Pike said.

She also expressed her remorse over the horrific crime.

“I’ve always felt bad for her mother, that I took someone’s child, someone’s sister, someone’s friend away.

“I feel remarkably remorseful for what I did.”

Pike not only requested an all-female execution squad, she also expressed that if that request failed she would prefer to be hanged.

Ms Slemmer’s mother described Pike’s request as unreasonable.

“I don’t think she should be allowed to have any special treatment,” she said, adding that “she didn’t consider how my daughter felt. She’s just playing the system … It’s all bullc**p”.

“She has no remorse. She’s never had any remorse in 31 years.”

Court documents described the “brutal” murder of Ms Slemmer in great detail.

“Pike and Slemmer were both students at the Job Corps Centre in Knoxville, Tennessee at the time.

“They had a strained relationship; Pike claimed that Slemmer ‘had been ‘trying to get [her] boyfriend’ and … ‘running her mouth’ everywhere.

“These bad feelings unfortunately resulted in the following events.”

The Tennessee Supreme Court description, obtained by news.com.au, details how Pike lied to Slemmer about a trip to a Blockbuster video store before Pike and her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp beat their victim, slashed her throat and engraved satanic symbols on her body.

“On January 11, 1995, Pike … told her friend Kim Iloilo … that she intended to kill another student, Colleen Slemmer, because she ‘had just felt mean that day’.

“The next day, January 12, 1995, at approximately 8pm, Iloilo observed Pike, along with Slemmer, and two other Job Corps students, Shadolla Peterson and Tadaryl Shipp, Pike’s boyfriend, walking away from the Job Corps centre toward 17th Street.

“At approximately 10.15pm, Iloilo observed Pike, Peterson, and Shipp return to the Centre. Slemmer was not with them. Later that night, Pike went to Iloilo’s room and told Iloilo that she had just killed Slemmer and that she had brought back a piece of the victim’s skull as a souvenir.

“Pike showed Iloilo the piece of skull and told her that she had cut the victim’s throat six times, beaten her, and thrown asphalt at the victim’s head. Pike told Iloilo that the victim had begged ‘them’ to stop cutting and beating her, but Pike did not stop because the victim continued to talk.

“Pike told Iloilo that she had thrown a large piece of asphalt at the victim’s head, and when it broke into smaller pieces, she had thrown those at the victim as well. Pike told Iloilo that a meat cleaver had been used to cut the victim’s back and a box cutter had been used to cut her throat.

“Finally, Pike said that a pentagram had been carved onto the victim’s forehead and chest. Iloilo said that Pike was dancing in a circle, smiling, and singing ‘la, la, la’ while she related these details about the murder.

“When Iloilo saw Pike at breakfast the next morning she asked Pike what she had done with the piece of the victim’s skull. Pike replied that it was in her pocket and then said, ‘And, yes, I’m eating breakfast with it’.”

A University of Tennessee employee found Slemmer’s body on January 13. The employee testified that it was so badly beaten than he had “first mistaken it for the corpse of an animal”.

It did not take long for authorities to turn their attention to the 18-year-old Pike who, upon being interviewed, waived her rights to silence and gave a complete statement admitting to her involvement.

“According to Pike, as she slammed Slemmer’s head against the concrete, Slemmer repeatedly asked, ‘Why are you doing this to me?’,” the court documents read.

“As Slemmer ‘screamed and screamed’, Pike recounted how she began to hear voices telling her that she had to do something to prevent Slemmer from telling on her and sending her to prison for attempted murder.”

At the beginning of September, Pike’s lawyers filed a 226-page clemency petition to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, the only person with the power to put a stop to the single drug planned to enter Pike’s system in 19 days.

In it, they detailed a history of violence, sexual abuse and tragedy that Pike was subjected to as a little girl — matters they say cast the killer’s crimes in a new light and should have prevented her becoming the first woman put to death in Tennessee since 1819.

At the heart of the petition was a photograph, below, showing Pike as a toddler.

Christa Pike has been sentenced to death for strangling

“There is a picture of Christa as a child that I often think about,” her lawyers wrote in the petition.

“She is outside, her curly red hair is slightly blown by the wind. She has big brown eyes, and her mouth is drawn tight in a straight line.

“I think of this picture because I know that it was taken about the time Christa was first sexually abused. Her grandmother’s boyfriend had already begun orally raping her. To me, this picture represents a devastatingly sad turning point, where the chaos that surrounded Christa began to leave marks on her that were too much to overcome,” her lawyers wrote.

“A point where the chaos that surrounded Christa started to lead to cycles of depression, mania, self-medication, and abuse. Cycles that were compounded by what one expert called an ‘almost unbearably abusive background’.”

The petition relied on the horrific abuse she suffered, her diagnosis of bipolar and her 30 years served so far in solitary confinement as reasons enough for clemency.

Pike was 18 when she killed her friend. But Shipp, her boyfriend and co-offender, was only 17. Under Tennessee law, he was barred from execution because he had not yet turned 18.

“Decades of being brutally raped, molested, beaten, humiliated, emotionally abused, ostracised and screamed at profoundly damaged her, leaving her with a multitude of untreated psychological disorders.

“Without protection from the adults who were supposed to have protected her, and without treatment for bipolar disorder and her other psychological disorders, Christa managed her volatile emotions and trauma-related problems as she had learned from her parents: through self-medication with marijuana and drinking.

“Tragically, she was unable to manage the upsurge of extreme rage and fear she felt when triggered by taunts and threats to the source of love she believed she had found with her boyfriend.

“The impact of trauma and untreated psychiatric disorders had tragic consequences.”

The last woman executed in Tennessee was Eve Martin in 1820. She was convicted of accessory to murder and hanged.

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Live: Botched execution leaves Tennessee killer Christa Pike alive, crucial question remains unanswered