Christa Pike, the only woman currently on Tennessee’s death row, is fighting to stop her scheduled September 30 execution by suing the state and arguing that its lethal injection protocol is unconstitutional. As the date of her execution approaches, Pike is asking the Tennessee Supreme Court to intervene, citing a variety of medical and psychological factors that she claims would turn her execution into a torturous event.
According to The Tennessean, Pike’s legal team filed a motion on June 12 asking the state’s highest court to appoint a special master to investigate her claims. Her attorneys, Luke Ihnen and Stephen Ferrell of the Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee, argue that the state’s current procedures are fundamentally flawed.
