U.S. State Prepares for First Execution of a Woman in More Than Two Centuries, as Shocking Details of Her Brutal Crime Emerge and Renew National Debates Over Capital Punishment, Legal Ethics, Gender in the Justice System, and the Circumstances Surrounding Her Historic, Controversial Death Sentence.
Tennessee may soon execute Christa Gail Pike, the first woman in over 200 years, after the state Supreme Court approved moving forward with her death sentence. Pike, now 49, has spent decades on death row, and her case is notable for its brutality, her age at the time of the crime, and the rarity of…