Christa Pike is the only woman on Tennessee’s death row for a crime committed when she was an 18-year-old girl with severe trauma and untreated mental illness. She is a victim of child sexual abuse, multiple rapes that began when she was a toddler, and parental abandonment and neglect.

If her execution proceeds, Christa Pike will be the first woman put to death in the State of Tennessee in more than 200 years.

TAKE ACTION: Ask Governor Lee to Commute Christa Pike’s Death Sentence

At the time of the crime, Christa suffered from untreated mental illness, undiagnosed bipolar disorder, and PTSD from a lifetime of horrific and repeated childhood rapes, physical and sexual abuse, and neglect that began when she was in diapers.

The State of Tennessee is not disputing Christa’s childhood fraught with serious trauma. This was evident in a recent hearing challenging the method of execution when Assistant Attorney General Will Ayers said, “I think everybody in this courtroom wishes those [terrible] things had never happened to Ms. Pike.

To learn more about her case visit mercyforchrista.org and follow @mercyforchrista on Instagram and Facebook.