Christa Pike drew disturbing childhood picture years before she was sentenced to death
Warning: This article contains discussion of violence, child abuse and sexual assault which some readers may find distressing
Christa Pike was in elementary school when teachers discovered a disturbing drawing of a demonic man with a large penis, which her legal team now say was a cry for help.
Pike, 50, has been on death row for three decades, following the murder of her classmate at the Job Corps Center, Colleen Slemmer, in 1995.
Pike, who was 18 years old at the time of the murder, became the youngest woman to be sentenced to death in American history when she was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder the following year.
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Her execution, via lethal injection, is scheduled in Tennessee for September 30, but her lawyers are trying to stop this from happening and have filed for clemency in a petition to Gov. Bill Lee.
The 226-page document details her history of mental illness and the sexual violence she experienced from a young age. They state that Pike was 'repeatedly raped as a toddler by Ernest Johnson, her grandmother’s boyfriend'.
Her lawyers write that, as a child, she 'drew a man with a huge penis and demonic face to explain what happened in her home'.
Pike's alarmed teachers took her to the principal and called her parents. However, it is said that no one investigated it further.
She was also raped when she was just 11 years old, and again at 17, just a year before she committed the crime. Here, she was 'thrown to the ground' with 'her body bruised'.
Her mother also drank heavily while she was pregnant with Pike, the petition states, which they claim contributed to frontal lobe brain damage. Experts later linked this to her bipolar disorder diagnosis.
Pike's attorney, Kelly Gleason, said: “The governor now has an opportunity to protect a victim of child rape and correct the mistakes of the adults, institutions and systems that consistently failed Christa as a child.”
The State does not dispute Pike's history of sexual victimization.
In August, during a hearing on Pike's challenge to the state’s lethal injection protocol, the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office also told the courtroom that they 'wish the abuse didn't happen' and 'that she was not on death row', as per the Death Penalty Information Center.
Pike's lawyers write: "She doesn’t expect to walk free. Yet after over 30 years in prison, with consistent treatment, medication, and decades of reflection, she accepts responsibility, expresses sincere, deep remorse, and continues to work toward becoming someone who can help others.
"Through this petition, Christa respectfully asks Governor Bill Lee to grant her clemency by commuting her sentence to life without the possibility of parole.
"Christa can still be useful. Her story of growth from a traumatized teenager to a generous, empathetic woman has the power to help others choose a different path. It already has."
During the hearing last month, Pike's legal team argued that being strapped to a gurney by male guards on the day of her execution would be traumatising for Pike, given her history of sexual abuse.
They also argued that Pike's small veins and her blood disorder, thrombocytosis, would make lethal injection too painful, The Tennessean reports.
The state's lawyer Will Ayers said: "The standard is not a painless execution. The state does not dispute the things Ms. Pike has suffered.
"Psychological harm alone is not a violation. This is an attack on execution in general. Ms. Pike's position seems to be that any execution protocol would violate the Eighth Amendment."
Pike's boyfriend at the time of the crime, Tadaryl Shipp, was also convicted of the murder. However, as he was 17 years old at the time, he was ineligible for a death sentence. He received a life sentence and is now eligible for parole.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues or want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, the Childhelp USA National Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and receives calls from throughout the United States, Canada, US Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico.
Kiesha Dosanjh