EVERYONE Failed Her (But One)
EVERYONE failed her. Her mother failed her, her father failed her, her teachers failed her, her councilors failed her, her original defense lawyer failed her, her jury failed her, the Governor of Tennessee failed her, society failed her, the Supreme Court failed her. And, then, even her EXECUTIONERS failed her. ALL of these failed this woman.
I’m talking about Christa Gail Pike. If you’ve followed this story at all, you’ll know that she (with her satanist boyfriend) committed a horrible and demonic crime: the torture and murder of a romantic rival when she was 18 years old. What most people don’t know is the shocking history of neglect, abuse and multiple rapes that preceded the crime, and, the later diagnosis of severe depression, that was never treated prior to the crime.
Christa Gail Pike was born on March 10, 1976, in Beckley, West Virginia. She was neglected by alcoholic parents, and she was exposed to alcohol in the womb, a condition that has grave neurological and psychiatric sequelae. She was orally raped as a TODDLER by her abusive FATHER. She’s stated that she can still remember the SMELL of his penis. She was raped again at age 11, and, yet again at the age of 17. She attempted SUICIDE at the age of TWELVE. She was found AFTER the murder and trial to have major bipolar depressive disorder which was undiagnosed and NEVER treated beforehand. The jury that sentenced her to death NEVER learned of any of this. Her so called defense attorney was inexperienced and had NEVER tried a capital case before. To any fair minded person, all of the above would be seen as mitigating and exculpatory evidence, and taken together with the fact that her age at the time of the murder was just a few months past the legal age of adulthood, 18, would have, and SHOULD have, led to led to a new trial, or, at the least, at different sentence. Neither was EVER granted. And, in time, Christa came to understand the gravity of her actions and became truly remorseful. The appeals process was long, tortuous and ultimately UNSUCCESSFUL. While the appeals process wore on, she endured 30 years of solitary confinement on death row. Even the Supreme Court, in a five to four decision, failed to stay her execution. And on September 30, Christa was brought into the execution chamber where attempted execution by lethal injection FAILED TWICE.
Yes, EVERYONE failed to understand and help this very damaged and very ill young woman… EXCEPT for one…. Our Heavenly Father stepped in when all mortals failed to do so. In essence, I believe that He commuted her sentence while she was strapped to the execution table. Although this is, obviously, speculation on my part, it’s my belief that our Lord steered the lethal executioner’s needles in though and then out of the veins that were to carry the lethal drugs to her brain. Not once, but TWICE. Instead of staying in her bloodstream, the lethal drug “extravasated” and passed in to the “soft tissues” of her arms, where it damaged and burned her arms, but did not pass quickly enough to the brain to take her life. Essentially she was put into a medically induced coma, from which, after several days of life support, she has now woken up from. It is my belief that she is alive today as a testament to God’s forgiveness, the power of remorse, penitence and REDEMPTION, which were long ago promised to each of us by Jesus Christ.
They BETTER NOT try to execute her again.