Christa Pike, with her execution just two days away, is hoping the U.S. Supreme Court will step in.
The court is likely Pike's last hope for a respite from death. Gov. Bill Lee announced on Sept. 28 that he does not plan to intervene in Pike's execution after reviewing her request for clemency.
Attorneys for Pike petitioned the nation's highest court on Sept. 25. They argue her death at the hands of male executioners will be unconstitutionally cruel because she was repeatedly raped as a minor.
"While the public may have an interest in seeing judgments carried out, it also has an interest that its citizens not be tortured to death in the name of the people," her attorneys Luke Ihnen and Stephen Ferrell of the Federal Defender Services of Eastern
Tennessee wrote.
In one of the filings, Pike's attorneys called the August hearing where Pike came up short a "sham proceeding" before "a biased judge."
Pike is scheduled to die 10 a.m. Sept. 30 at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville for the 1995 torture and killing of Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. Slemmer was 19 at her death. Pike was 18, the youngest age at which someone can be sentenced to death. If her execution happens, she will be the first person put to death in Tennessee for a crime committed at age 18 since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976.
Slemmer's mother May Martinez has long awaited Pike's execution. The state of Tennessee's 41-page response briefly emphasizes its interest in punishing the guilty and sparing Slemmer's family further trauma.
"After thirty years, it is long past time for Martinez to receive the 'peace' she seeks," the filing reads. The office also defended the state's method of execution and the judge who oversaw the August hearing, Mark Ward.
Twelve organizations that advocate for women who have suffered sexual violence are supporting Pike. They wrote the court, saying Pike's post-traumatic stress disorder from sexual violence will likely cause her flashbacks in the execution chamber.
"She will likely believe she is being raped to death," the groups wrote in an amicus brief filed Sept. 26.
Pike's filings to the court are an application for a stay of her Sept. 30 execution and a petition asking the court to review her case given two undecided questions they believe Pike's case poses.
Her attorneys ask the court if the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment covers psychological pain alone, in contrast with "physical pain." The answer would be relevant in Pike's case since a PTSD flashback of rape would be severe but psychological.
Pike's attorneys also ask for review of the new process set by the Tennessee Supreme Court for challenging methods of execution, which they say is unconstitutional.
Have questions about the justice system? Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him with questions, tips or story ideas at emealins@tennessean.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Will Christa Pike be executed? Last hope lies at US Supreme Court
