WEBVTT - The Execution of Christa Gail Pike 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:07.480 Folks, the state of Tennessee has not executed a woman 0:00:08.000 --> 0:00:12.440 in some two hundred years, and Krista Gail Pike is 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:15.960 fighting to not be the next. And with that, welcome 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:18.960 to this episode of Amy and TJ. Presentz wrote, this 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:21.160 is a story that got a lot of headlines of 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:24.000 the end of last year because there was a date 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:28.080 put on the books for an execution, a rare execution 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:29.840 of a woman in Tennessee. 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:33.400 That's right, she was set, I say, is said, there's 0:00:33.479 --> 0:00:37.840 not Auz is said to be executed on September thirtieth 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:42.199 of this year. But Krista Pike has now filed a 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:47.199 lawsuit to stop her execution. She says that executing her 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:52.840 would violate her constitutional rights and her religious beliefs. Will 0:00:52.880 --> 0:00:57.040 get into exactly how she's saying an execution would do 0:00:57.160 --> 0:01:00.960 both of those things to her. It's interesting, It's creative. 0:01:01.680 --> 0:01:04.240 It's creative, you just said, because my next question to you, 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:07.520 we we just we happen to cover a lot of 0:01:07.560 --> 0:01:11.640 executions in rooms. We see this thing fighting, fighting, fighting 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:12.320 to stay alive. 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:15.600 Yes, attorneys will come up with all sorts of different 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:18.959 reasons as to why their client shouldn't die, whether it 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:21.920 they go back to the trial and find some reason 0:01:22.000 --> 0:01:25.440 why they didn't get a fair shake, or they'll go 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:28.800 and try and find reasons why their client is not 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:35.280 mentally stable enough to face an execution. But this woman's 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:39.520 attorneys are claiming she has a condition and she has 0:01:39.560 --> 0:01:43.040 a religious belief that would preclude her from being executed. 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:45.160 Look, we've come up, and we say we've come up. 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:47.400 They a lot of attorneys have come up with all 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:52.160 kinds of ideas for how to save their client. We 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:56.160 don't see necessarily robes it work that often, but sometimes 0:01:56.160 --> 0:01:58.240 it delays the process or they go through the process. 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:00.640 This is and it shouldes. 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:01.120 I don't know. 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:04.360 Do people feel any differently in the country when we 0:02:04.360 --> 0:02:07.000 talk about execution and people have their opinions about whether 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:09.520 we should have it or should not have it, But 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:12.560 do we feel any differently when it comes to executing 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:13.560 a woman. 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:18.880 Absolutely we do. Yes, there is something about even sending 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:20.840 a woman to prison for the rest of their lives. 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:24.280 We just heard a jury this is so interesting. A juror, 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:28.840 i should say, speak out after the last trial of 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:32.120 Corey Ritchins and she said, we sat there in that 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:34.960 jury room and we all came into it thinking she 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:39.360 was guilty, but we all started talking about how possibly 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:42.040 she might not be because the idea of sending a 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:44.800 mother to prison for the rest of her life, the 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:47.320 idea of taking a mother away from her children for 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:51.320 the rest of their lives, was very It was very 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:53.040 present in the room when they were trying to come 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:55.480 to the conclusion. So, yes, I do think we have 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:59.240 an aversion as a country, as a society in punishing 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:03.200 women for crimes because we think of them as mothers, 0:03:03.320 --> 0:03:06.480 We think of them as people who others count on, 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:08.680 and we try not we try to. We wish for 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:10.440 the best, we hope for the best. We don't want 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:11.280 it to be true. 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:13.480 And we don't want them to be monstrous exactly. We 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:14.760 it just doesn't work. 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:18.200 These are ok not to label women, but yes, we 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:22.760 don't see we see them as nurturers. Like you said, 0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:25.680 So when stories and we have seen plenty of robes 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:29.320 of mothers in the country, famous stories of mothers killing 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:32.240 their children, they're shocking. 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:36.360 We can't we just can't it. It doesn't make sense. 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:40.240 So here we are. I don't know. It's an interesting 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:42.040 thing to consider. 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:44.640 Okay, there are possibly people out there who are Yes, 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:47.560 I'm for the death penalty, but only as applies to men, right, 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:48.280 is that really? 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:50.480 Do we really feel that differently about it? 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:53.320 And if there was a question about execution and it 0:03:53.600 --> 0:03:55.560 just had to do with women, would we be still 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:58.200 in favor of it the way we are as a country. 0:03:58.240 --> 0:04:00.880 The numbers go back and forth the people who are 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:03.880 in favor of the death penalty. But I'm just thinking 0:04:03.880 --> 0:04:07.200 about that because we don't do it often. Since nineteen 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:11.280 seventy six, only eighteen women have been executed in this country. 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:15.080 That's one percent of the however many that have been 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:17.280 executed in that time. Yeah, I mean that doesn't happen 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:18.840 at all. No, it doesn't happen very often. 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:22.479 And look, I think it's because also women are not 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:26.480 as likely to be murderers as men just period in general, 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:29.640 statistically speaking. So yes, of course you're gonna have fewer 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:32.160 women sentenced to death, but yes, we do. 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:35.080 Numbers there though, I have to do with the discrepancy 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:37.719 of how many who end up on trial for murder, 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:40.520 how many of them, the percentage of them who don't 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:42.240 get the death penalty that if they were a man 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:42.880 they might. 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:45.760 Oh yeah, no, that makes sense, that does make sense. 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:48.360 That does make sense, So yes, I do think that would. 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:51.479 You be less likely to vote death penalty for women? 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:55.200 Yeah, I wouldn't be able to be on a jury. 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:58.200 Full disclosure here, because I am against the death penalty. 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:01.040 I wouldn't be able to send anybody to death row. 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:01.840 No matter who they are. 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:04.640 Correct. That's just where I am personally, So I would 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:07.880 have to make that known the moment I was being 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:10.480 questioned as a juror and they'd say thank you and next, 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:12.960 because I just I wouldn't be able. 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:16.120 To sleep the defense Yeah we want her. 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:22.120 No, So I am somebody who who would not be 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:23.680 able to be on that jury. I couldn't sleep at 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:25.400 night either way. How about you? 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:28.560 I yeah, we've talked about it. Plaint just not a 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:31.080 fan of this ceremony, if you will. For us, going 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:35.240 through the process of killing somebody just feels barbaric, no 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:38.039 matter what that crime happens to be, and there's been 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:42.240 some horrific, horrific crimes the way I would say, if 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:46.039 that family member went and killed that person and I 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:48.279 was on the jury, I would do a whole agreed 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:49.560 with it a time to kill a thing. 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:55.000 Where I absolutely I agree with that sentiment, and by 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:57.400 the way would have zero problems sending someone to prison 0:05:57.480 --> 0:05:59.800 for the rest of their lives to never see the 0:05:59.839 --> 0:06:03.960 life day again, no problem there just couldn't vote to executing. 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:05.719 No, I'm just curious that as we were talking about 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:07.680 if it's different with a man or woman, know it's 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:10.400 no different for us necessarily, but only eighteen women. So 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:13.839 ro yes, this will make headlines, Krista gail'pike. How will 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:16.719 the country feel? Will there be a different conversation leading 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:19.560 up to this execution about the death penalty? And there 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:23.279 are some actually robe there are she has as a 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:26.440 part of her story in her case, if you not 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:29.359 the crime, but her life leading up to the crime 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:32.239 to where you would go, wow, you would have at 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:35.000 you gotta take a beat to go man, this person 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:36.000 had it bad. 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:39.200 It's true, and look, there are some First of all, 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:41.279 we want to point out this is not an issue 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:44.560 or not a case of guilt or innocence. She absolutely 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:47.640 admits to having done this now and as actually we're 0:06:47.640 --> 0:06:49.480 going to get into we are going to hear directly 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:51.120 from her, have a couple quotes from her that are 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:54.920 very powerful actually about where she is now in her 0:06:54.960 --> 0:07:00.359 process of attrition and culpability it is. It's some to 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:04.920 consider when you're hearing this case. But her crime is heinous. 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:08.520 This happened thirty years ago, actually more than thirty years ago, 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:11.720 January twelfth, nineteen ninety five. But here's the deal. She 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:15.520 was just eighteen years old. I say just eighteen years old, 0:07:16.280 --> 0:07:20.400 But when you hear what she did, it's tough to reconcile. 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:25.200 She tortured before she murdered a nineteen year old girl. 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:28.760 Her name was Colleen Slemmer, her romantic rival, or someone 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:31.280 she considered to be her romantic rival. She thought this 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:34.680 girl had her sights on her boyfriend, so she convinces 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:37.920 her boyfriend who's seventeen years old, and a friend to 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:42.360 lure this young woman, this Colleen Slimmer into the woods. 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:46.560 And when they get her into the woods, she apparently 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:49.240 and even bragged about this later that she cuts Slummer's 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:53.560 throat six times with a box cutter, cut her back 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:58.280 with a meat cleaver, carved a pentagram into her chest, 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:01.920 and then continued even as Slummer was begging her to 0:08:02.080 --> 0:08:06.280 please please stop, and eventually she killed her by throwing 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:11.080 a large chunk of asphalt at her head, which they 0:08:11.120 --> 0:08:14.440 believe was the fatal blow. And then get this, she 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:17.000 has a part of her skull that she takes with 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:20.559 her as almost a trophy and shows to folks. 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:22.960 A lot of people would hear those details and say, oh, yeah, 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:27.600 this woman doesn't deserve to live. And that's understandable, that's heinus. 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:32.360 There is no question there at all. Robes, but some 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:34.960 of the and you've looked into and got into she 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:37.599 had a very tough and some of her attorneys and 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:39.400 others who are advocating for her to not be on 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:43.040 death row, she had a history robes of just a 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:49.520 horrific upbringing, mental illness, She had problems. Young lady had problems. 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:51.720 Now this is not excuse she made the choices she made, 0:08:51.800 --> 0:08:53.880 but this is part of the argument that some are 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:56.520 putting out. This is before she's making her legal arguments, 0:08:56.800 --> 0:09:01.479 but just from a sympathetic standpoint. And eighteen, we don't 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:06.000 that often sentence people to death who are eighteen, nineteen, 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:06.680 twenty years old. 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:09.640 Yes, in fact, that exact range of age. I was surprised, 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:12.280 just looked it up. The state of Tennessee in modern 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:16.880 history has not executed one person, male or female, who 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:20.520 committed their crime at the age of eighteen, nineteen or twenty. 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:24.000 So that is significant, maybe even more so than the 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:26.720 fact that they haven't executed a woman in two hundred years. 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:30.080 They haven't executed anybody who committed a crime that young. 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:31.320 That's interesting. 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:33.559 I mean you think about eighteen year old, yes, think 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:35.959 about we got a thirteen year old and a nineteen 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:37.280 year old in the house essentially, and. 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:42.920 They're babies, children, they are absolute children. Dus you're a 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:45.679 nineteen year old at least is a child. Oh no, 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:48.679 she's a No, she is a child. 0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:51.000 And look when you think about a child who has 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:55.560 been abused, neglected, sexually, physically, all of that four years 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:57.400 and you have a mental illness on top of it, 0:09:57.480 --> 0:10:01.080 and you're eighteen and I think she had just turned eighteen. 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:05.520 Her boyfriend was seventeen. So these were kids, and again 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:10.600 does not excuse the viciousness of the crime. But you'll 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:13.040 hear from her and where she is now, because when 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:15.800 you're that young, it's not that you're not responsible. But 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:19.480 shouldn't that be taken into consideration when you were deciding 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:20.440 between life and death? 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:22.640 Well, I guess the jury did at the time. Right, 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:25.200 this is what our system allows, and this is what 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:28.800 justice looks like and these are the rules in that 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:29.720 regard Robes. 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:30.480 I mean, have we. 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:33.360 Learned more since she was convicted? Have we done more research? 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:37.640 Have we become frankly a little more averse to the 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:39.600 death penalty? Have we become you know? 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:43.120 So that that is part of her attorney's argument. Are 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:46.839 in this lawsuit among the things, they say, you literally 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:50.240 nailed it. You nailed it. Her attorneys are arguing that 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:52.600 if she were tried today, she would not have been 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:56.000 sentenced to death because of her age, her mental illness 0:10:56.080 --> 0:10:57.920 at the time of the murder, and her history of 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:01.280 sexual abuse as a young child. Period a jury would 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:03.800 not have convicted her to death. That she would have 0:11:03.800 --> 0:11:07.440 been convicted, but not to death. And in terms of 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:12.920 her lawsuit, her her attorneys are saying lethal injection method 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:16.480 violates her religious beliefs and her constitutional right because she 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:21.000 says her execution could cause her unnecessary pain and added 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:24.839 terror and suffering, which is a violation of the Constitution 0:11:25.200 --> 0:11:29.520 which protects everyone against cruel and unusual punishment. They claim 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:34.440 she has a condition, okay, it's called thrombocytosis, and it 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:37.720 can lead to unusual bleeding, and they say death by 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:41.320 drowning in one's own blood. So because of this condition 0:11:42.720 --> 0:11:45.240 and the lethal injection, they. 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:48.240 Could, yes, be problematic. Yes, do they know for sure? 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:50.680 I mean, do they know she's going to suffer? 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:54.720 They say could? That is the word they used. And 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:58.079 then they also said okay, so and that's specific to 0:11:58.160 --> 0:12:01.240 lethal injection. Then they're saying she can't request the only 0:12:01.320 --> 0:12:04.560 other approved method of dying because in the state of Tennessee, 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:08.600 because it would violate her Buddhist beliefs. Because her Buddhist 0:12:08.679 --> 0:12:11.760 beliefs teach her that she is not allowed to participate 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:15.000 in any process that would lead to her own death. 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:18.880 So she can't choose the method of execution because that 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:21.000 would violate her Buddhist beliefs. And by the way, the 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:24.880 only other method is electrocution. But she can't even make 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:28.240 that pivot, she claims, because it would violate her religious beliefs. 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:31.080 That is the foundation of their lawsuit. 0:12:31.200 --> 0:12:35.160 Okay, so they have two basis for it, right, Yes, Okay, 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:38.880 So her medical condition and her religious beliefs should not 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:39.920 allow this to go forward. 0:12:39.920 --> 0:12:40.319 Correct. 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:43.600 I don't know what chance she has here, but like 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:47.520 we say, she is actually doing this a lot, a 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:50.040 lot farther out from her execution than a lot of 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:50.679 inmates to do. 0:12:50.840 --> 0:12:52.960 That's true, that's our scrambling last second. 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:54.920 So yes, that is a very good point. They are 0:12:54.960 --> 0:12:57.199 laying the foundation now because if this doesn't work, I'm 0:12:57.200 --> 0:12:59.679 sure they'll try something else and then something else. But 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:04.960 this Eight's response, which they just put into evidence here, 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:08.320 they say, yeah, they have not shown in any way 0:13:08.360 --> 0:13:12.040 that lethal injection would present an unconstitutional risk to her. 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:15.600 And then they said the Eighth Amendment does not guarantee 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:18.960 a prisoner a painless death, and that some risk of 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:23.520 pain is inherent in any method of execution, no matter 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:28.000 how humane. And they added, for a little fun, we 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:31.240 wish Pike's commitment to the sanctity of life had arrived 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:35.000 in time to save Colleen Slemmer. That shows you where 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:36.520 they stand on her lawsuit. 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:42.040 How did you notice, like legal briefings and stuff are 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:42.880 getting snarkier. 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:46.760 Yes, that's a really good point. Yes, so yes, the 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:49.960 state added a little snarky comment at the end. And 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:51.800 we should point out because we always talk about what 0:13:51.840 --> 0:13:57.400 the victim's family wants. Colleen Slemmer's mom desperately wants Pike 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:00.319 to die, like wants her to die I'm going to 0:14:00.360 --> 0:14:01.720 give you the quote that she gave. 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:03.319 And the mom at this point has to be how 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:04.280 old this was? So long? 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:05.680 This was thirty years ago? 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:09.560 Oh my goodness, I mean maybe sixty seventies at least. 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:11.680 Yes, at least she said. There is not a day 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:14.920 that goes by that I don't think about Colleen or 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:18.480 how she died and how rough it was. I just 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:22.840 want Krista down so I can end it, relieve my daughter, 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:27.040 so she finally can be resting. There is no question 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:33.160 Colleen Slummer's mom wants Krista to die, and that last week. 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:36.480 I mean, it doesn't matter legally necessarily, but I do 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:39.040 think it matters just to know that that is the 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:40.840 wish of the victim. 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:42.560 You know it mattered that family. 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:45.280 I know you said legally it might not have some bearing, 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:47.240 but it'll have a bearing if it came down to 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:50.840 the governor deciding to sign or not sign a ford 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:52.960 or commute or whatever the sentence. 0:14:52.920 --> 0:14:54.800 Might be, you make a very good chance. 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:56.040 I was letting her view be known. 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:58.240 And we have have we not seen some governors taken 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:01.000 to consideration here in the past year, Yes, and actually 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:04.680 go with the families witches So that's pretty powerful. 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:07.240 Also powerful. When we come back, we're going to tell 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:11.720 you what Krista Pike has had to say now about 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:17.720 her crime. It's a very very I even given all 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:21.480 the horrific details of what this woman is convicted of 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:25.320 and has admitted to, hearing where she is now might 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:28.400 soften your stance on what you think should happen to her. 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:30.480 Come September and. 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:41.680 Welcome back everyone to Amy and TJ Presents, where we 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:45.760 are talking about the execution of Christa Gail Pike. She 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:49.120 is fifty years old. She is set to be executed 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:52.760 September thirtieth for a crime she committed thirty years ago, 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:57.320 a vicious killing of a romantic rival. She was eighteen 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:00.480 at the time of the murder. Her victim was eighteen. 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:05.760 And here is what Krista Pike has said one in 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:08.560 a website that has been created by her supporter. She 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:11.120 This was her statement that is posted on her website 0:16:11.120 --> 0:16:14.120 by folks who don't want to see her die. She says, 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:16.840 there is no excuse for what I did. I take 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:20.320 full responsibility for my actions and regret everything that happened 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:23.280 that night. I only want my situation to be looked 0:16:23.320 --> 0:16:26.400 at now through the eyes of logic instead of anger 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:29.560 and answer the question of if I deserve to die 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:33.440 for a crime committed by three people. She says this 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:36.160 because her boyfriend got life in prison and the other 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:40.040 friend who was there testified and was given probation. 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:44.600 The boyfriend, by the way, this just happened. He was 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:50.320 eligible for parole last year. He ain't getting out. I mean, 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:53.720 it's incredible to see she has an execution date set 0:16:53.840 --> 0:16:56.080 up at the same time the other guy was eligible 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:57.080 to get the hell out of prison. 0:16:57.160 --> 0:17:01.840 Isn't that wild? That's she was the one who did. 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:04.600 She was the vicious acts they stood by. He lured 0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:06.520 her And look, in a lot of states, that wouldn't matter. 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:09.879 If you're a part of a crime and someone dies 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:11.800 in the act of that crime, you are still on 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:16.280 the hook for murder. But so that was that, not 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:19.119 that emotional, not that powerful. But the letter she wrote 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:23.000 to the Tennessee and is what moved me. She said, 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:25.719 think back to the worst mistake you made as a 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:30.000 reckless teenager, while mine happened to be huge, unforgettable and 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:33.639 ruined countless lives. I was a mentally ill eighteen year 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:37.280 old kid. It took me numerous years to even realize 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:40.320 the gravity of what I'd done, and even more to 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:44.080 accept how many lives I affected. I took the life 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:48.600 of someone's child, sister, friend. It sickens me now to 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:51.520 think that someone as loving and as compassionate as myself 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:54.240 had the ability to commit such a crime. 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:57.720 I hear you and you broke. I will listen to 0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:01.920 both sides who re that and say, you are full 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:05.800 of it. You've had time, you did the crime, this 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:09.080 was the punishment, and justice has to be carried out. 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:12.000 I will listen to somebody else who said all of 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:14.400 that is correct, and no matter if you think she's 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:17.840 just doing this to save her butt or not, as 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:22.280 a decent human and just some part pulls at your heartstring. 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:26.040 To have some grace or some sympathy for even a 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:29.080 person capable of pulling off as heinous of a crime. 0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:32.400 Is that Robes. It is very difficult. Two. 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:35.760 I mean, Jesus did it. I guess right, So it 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:38.800 was pretty difficult to do. But to be forgiving of 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:42.240 someone in the face of the worst type of crime 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:46.320 who it asks a lot of a human being Robes 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:48.800 and certainly asks even more once you hear the statement 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:50.439 of her mother of the victims. 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:53.119 Stay yes, I mean yeah, you can never put yourself 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:58.040 in her shoes, and I could never ever pass judgment 0:18:58.080 --> 0:19:01.040 on how she feels or what she wants in terms 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:04.240 of justice for her daughter and for the pain, the 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:07.040 life of pain that she has had to endure missing 0:19:07.119 --> 0:19:10.440 her daughter. I totally get that. I think it's interesting though, 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:16.280 when we've seen, especially folks on death row actually have 0:19:16.600 --> 0:19:19.840 something of value to add. Maybe it's to other inmates, 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:24.000 maybe it's to the lives of family members who are 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:26.840 on the other side, who they can show as a 0:19:26.840 --> 0:19:29.800 cautionary tale, but at least offers some wisdom or some 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:32.720 guidance to prevent other people from going down that path. 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:35.679 That's the other side of it. Is there value? Is 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:39.359 there something they can still contribute should they be given 0:19:39.680 --> 0:19:42.960 the opportunity of redemption and grace and to be able 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:47.399 to rehabilitate who they are and what they believe and 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:49.040 who they stood for what they stood for. 0:19:49.200 --> 0:19:53.480 You said redemption and grace. I guess for me and 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:55.120 for a lot of people, that might be a higher bar. 0:19:56.160 --> 0:19:57.400 I'm just talking mercy. 0:19:57.680 --> 0:19:59.639 Yeah, And that's not seem to be something we have 0:19:59.640 --> 0:20:04.440 a high tolerance for these days broke just mercy. You 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:07.520 did what you did, but I am not going to 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:09.840 be vengeful. I am not going to say you deserve 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:14.520 the same. I am going to grant mercy. And I 0:20:14.600 --> 0:20:16.680 know it's not nothing to do with war and things 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:19.160 we're seeing, but we have a mindset or an attitude 0:20:19.240 --> 0:20:21.800 or coming from the highest ranks in this country that 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:26.199 get a lot of attention. No mercy like making a 0:20:26.280 --> 0:20:28.520 game or a joke out of killing people that we 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:29.600 think are bad people. 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:31.240 It's a game. 0:20:31.280 --> 0:20:33.320 The boats I can see the boats, all those hecks 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:36.800 have kept posting those videos looking blowing these guys out 0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:39.760 of the water like it's fun, like it's a video game. 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:43.959 And so we don't seem like a merciful country, quite frankly, 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:48.880 asking for ropes. Can we extend that to anybody these days? 0:20:48.920 --> 0:20:52.760 Just mer It doesn't look like that's going to happen 0:20:53.119 --> 0:20:58.320 for Pike, and certainly the lawsuit will follow it. But 0:20:58.400 --> 0:21:04.040 the state's response seemed to swift and fairly sound actually 0:21:04.040 --> 0:21:06.159 in terms of what she is claiming and what they 0:21:06.200 --> 0:21:10.200 are stating. And of course we will follow any ruling 0:21:10.240 --> 0:21:12.080 that may come on this, but she's got some time. 0:21:12.119 --> 0:21:16.000 There'll be other appeals, most certainly before September thirtieth. And 0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:19.600 this is the state of Tennessee. Not sure what their 0:21:20.119 --> 0:21:24.439 track record is on granting clemency to folks, but it 0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:26.760